Indiana State University : Intercollegiate Athletics : Athletics Media Relations

December 31, 2006
Women’s Basketball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SYCAMORES DOMINATE SECOND HALF AND DOWN CREIGHTON

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State University Lady Sycamores used a strong second half performance to defeat the Creighton Lady Bluejays 89-62 in a Missouri Valley Conference game Sunday afternoon in the Hulman Center. After leading 33-31 at the half, ISU scored 56 points in the second 20-minute stretch to run away with the victory.

Laura Rudolphi scored 22 points and had six rebounds for ISU while Rachel Maenpaa had 19 points and led the team with nine rebounds. Angela Phillips scored 16 points and had eight assists while Annie Bankhead came of the bench to score 11 for the Lady Sycamores.

“We know we didn’t play our best in the first half,” Rachel Maenpaa said after the game. “Our half court defense is one of our goals for the season and it is getting better with each game.”

“We wanted to pick up the pace, offensively and defensively in the second half,” Laura Rudolphi added. “We knew we could run on them.”

Indiana State jumped out to a 10-4 lead early in the first half but then hit a cold spell, scoring just one point over the next five minutes. ISU was still able to increase their lead to 15-6 before Creighton connected on three straight three-point baskets to tie the game at 15. The game was tied seven times in the last 10 minutes of the opening period but each time ISU was able to keep the lead and held a 33-31 advantage at the intermission.

Creighton's Kristina Voss scored the first two buckets of the second half as the Lady Bluejays took their only lead of the game at 33-35 with 18:54 left. ISU’s Laura Rudolphi connected on a pair of free throws which ignited a 16-0 Lady Sycamore run. Creighton never threatened after that as the pressing Lady Sycamore defense kept the Lady Bluejays offbalance.

Indiana State remained undefeated at home for the season and improved to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in the MVC. The Lady Sycamores hit the road for a pair of contests next week, visiting Evansville on Thursday (8:00 p.m. EST tipoff) and Southern Illinois University on Saturday. ISU returns to the Hulman Center on Jan. 11 when they host Missouri State.