Box Score

EVANSVILLE, IND. – The No. 4 seed Indianapolis women's basketball team shot 62.5 percent from the field en route to a 78-74 victory over the No. 5 seed University of Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday afternoon in the first of four quarterfinal round games at the 2014 Deaconess GLVC Basketball Tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
 
The Tritons fall to 21-7 overall and will await word from the NCAA on Sunday night if they have done enough this season to earn a spot in the tournament field. UMSL has been ranked No. 7 in the last two Midwest Regional Rankings. The top eight teams in each of the country's eight regions will make up the NCAA Division II basketball tournament.  The conference tournament champions from both the GLVC and the GLIAC receive automatic berths, with six at-large berths then made available for the final spots in the Midwest region. UMSL is in search of its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1999-2000, and just the second-ever in program history.
 
The loss didn't come without a fight from the Tritons, however, who trimmed an 11-point deficit with 2:30 to play to just three with 15.5 seconds.
 
UIndy took its largest lead at 59-48 with 6:49 to play before the Tritons used an 8-2 run, including back-to-back three-pointers from junior Alexis Lawrence, to pull within 60-56 with 4:34 to go. However, the Greyhounds answered back with seven straight and later took a 67-56 lead with 2:30 on the clock. UMSL then knocked in four three-pointers, including three from senior Alyssa Like, over the next two minutes, while a three-point play from senior Hazaria Washington made it 76-73 with 15.5 ticks on the clock. However, the Greyhounds went 6-of-7 in the final 1:05 to help seal the win.
 
Lawrence led the Tritons with 22 points, going 5-of-13 from three-point range, while Like followed with a career-high 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting from long range. Washington added 18 points and also pulled down 14 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.
 
UMSL shot an even 38 percent from the field and owned a 40-32 rebounding advantage, including a 21-4 edge on the offensive end, and outscored the Greyounds, 19-6, in second chance points.
 
The Tritons took a 37-32 lead into halftime, but saw UIndy score seven straight to ignite a 21-9 run to take a 53-44 advantage with 9:28 to play. UMSL struggled offensively during that stretch; missing 11 of their first 14 field goals, while suffering through a span of nearly six minutes without a field goal.
 
Five straight points from Washington in a two minute span gave the Tritons a 13-8 lead with 13:12 to play in the first half before Like followed with three three-pointers to extend the advantage to 22-15 at the 10:40 mark. Senior Jessica Zavoral later hit the first of two free throws with 7:14 on the clock to put the lead into double figures at 27-17.
 
After being held without a field goal for over six minutes, UIndy used a 7-2 run to pull within 31-27 with 2:28 to play before back-to-back buckets from Washington. The Greyhounds hit another two buckets, including a three-pointer with 37 seconds to go to pull within three, before Like made it 37-32 at the break with her shot at the buzzer.
 
Eliza Wortman, a Second Team All-GLVC selection, scored 21 points off the bench for Indianapolis, which will advance to Saturday's semifinal against the winner of No. 1 seed Drury and No. 8 seed Maryville.
 
Junior Kelly McGovern dished out five assists and recorded three steals for the Tritons.
 
TRITON TIDBITS: UMSL is 4-9 in GLVC Tournament games… the Tritons were playing in just their second quarterfinal round game since the field expanded from eight to 12 teams in 2009-10… Indianapolis leads the all-time series, 19-9, and avenged a regular season loss to the Tritons, 85-64, in St. Louis on Feb. 8… junior Alexis Lawrence moved into the career top 10 by netting five three-point field goals and now has 129 long balls… Lawrence also moved into the single season top 10 in that category with 60 this season… senior Devonna Smith scored just six points, while fouling out in 18 minutes, and is now three points shy of 1,000 in her career.