IU East rallies past Point Park in KIAC WBB Game of the Week
IU East rallies past Point Park in KIAC WBB Game of the Week
STATS / HIGHLIGHTS
(Story by IU East sports information)
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. - Looking to finish off a big comeback, the Red Wolves took a few moments in their huddle before the fourth quarter to focus on the little things.
The Indiana University East women's basketball team rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit for a 67-56 victory against Point Park University on Jan. 23 in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Game of the Week at the CCAC South Gymnasium.
"We try to learn from every game we play, and obviously we had a lot to learn from the WVU Tech game (an 80-79 setback on Jan. 19)," said IU East coach Tiffani Selhorst. "We broke the game film down and realized how important doing the little things are.
"We focused on that in practice this week, and then to start the fourth quarter that's all we talked about, was bringing what we practiced into the fourth quarter. The girls got focused and played tough and together, and in the end they saw the payoff."
IU East (11-9, 6-2 KIAC) finished the game on a 22-7 surge to complete a season sweep of Point Park (14-7, 7-3).
A basket by Sarah Cook (Rushville, Ind./Rushville Consolidated High School) put the Red Wolves ahead to stay at 50-49 with 5:44 to go.
Six Red Wolves scored in the final quarter. All agreed the "little things" made the difference in the last 10 minutes.
"After WVU Tech, we sat down and went over everything we needed to get better at both individually and as a team, and how not doing the little things can really hurt us," said sophomore guard Tia King (Indianapolis, Ind./Warren Central High School).
"So we just took that and fed off of it even though we were down. We just didn't let up."
King finished with a team-best 18 points. Sophomore forward Keragan Niehoff (Rushville, Ind./Rushville Consolidated High School) added 14. King, Niehoff and sophomore guard Bailey Dreiman (Vincennes, Ind./Rivet High School) all had a team-best eight rebounds as the Red Wolves again controlled the backoards against the Pioneers.
Celina DiPietro had 19 points and made five 3-pointers for Point Park, which led, 30-26, at the half and 39-29 midway through the third quarter.
IU East plays a home-away-from-home game on Jan. 26. The Red Wolves are the home team for a KIAC game against Cincinnati Christian University at the Wright State University Nutter Center. Tipoff is 6 p.m. in the opening game of a women's-men's doubleheader.