Sports - Vincennes University

VU women punch their ticket to NJCAA National Championship Tournament

The Vincennes University Women's Basketball Team earned a trip to the NJCAA Div. I Women's Basketball National Championship Tournament when the Trailblazers turned away Shawnee, 70-61, Friday night in the championship game of the NJCAA District P Tournament at Rend Lake College in Ina, IL.

 

VU, the tournament's second seed, earned its 28th victory of the season behind 22 points from sophomore Brooke Dossett, 16 points and eight rebounds from freshman Laurhen Pickett and 14 points and seven boards from sophomore Kyra Tucker. All three of those VU players were named to the All-Tournament Team and Dossett garnered the tournament's Most Valuable Player Award.

 

Dossett scored 59 points in the Trailblazers' three tournament wins (over Wabash Valley, John A. Logan and Shawnee).

 

However, there may have been no points on Friday more important than the 10 consecutive points that Pickett reeled off in the second half to open up a cushion for VU. Once the lead was in place, the Trailblazers did the job at the free throw line and got enough defensive stops to register the win.

 

The Trailblazers (28-5), who led 34-24 at halftime, shot 24-for-65, including six 3-pointers (four by Dossett). VU shot only 14-for-27, but the Trailblazers committed only 11 turnovers.

 

VU was up, 50-48 in the fourth quarter when Pickett seemingly began to score at will down low. When the flurry ended, the Trailblazers had moved out to a 60-53 advantage. VU was still in front, 62-57, when Dossett was fouled and hit both free throws to make it 64-57 with 47.9 seconds remaining. After a Shawnee timeout, Saints freshman Emari Jones hit a 3-pointer to decrease the lead. But VU sophomore guard Emily Lueken was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and she hit 1-of-2 from the line to keep things moving in a positive direction. On the Saints' next trip down the floor, Jones put up another trey but was errant on the second one and Trailblazer sophomore Imani Taylor pulled down the rebound. Shawnee (30-3) was forced to foul Dossett and Dossett drained both from the stripe to extend the lead to 67-60.

 

Shawnee freshman Lanecion Soward drove to the basket and drew a foul from Dossett to get to the line to try to score with the clock stopped. Soward hit 1-of-2. At the other end, Lueken knocked down 1-of-2 at the free throw line. Soward and Lueken continued to be tied together in the final seconds because Soward slashed to the rim again with the ball but she missed a layup and Lueken rebounded the miss. The sophomore returned to the free throw line and hit two more free throws to complete the VU scoring for the night.

 

The National Championship Tournament will be March 14-19. This is the event's first time in Lubbock, TX, after the tournament was moved from Salina, KS. Twenty-four teams will qualify. The tournament will use a single-elimination format consisting of 24 games. A bracket of the tournament will be posted at NJCAA following the NJCAA Committee Conference seeding call on March 10.

By Troy Guthrie

Who is this Dossett person? Sounds pretty good.

 

That is absolutely fantastic. Has to be a great feeling and I'm sure her family is extremely proud. Congratulations

Go Blazers!

I really miss the like button!

 

Great to see student athletes get the opportunity to compete at the next level and play on the bigger stages come tournament time.

Great job Trailblazers!