BOX SCORE

QUINCY, Ill. – After Indianapolis bounced Quincy from last year's Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, the Lady Hawks returned the favor Thursday in a 65-62 final at Pepsi Arena.  QU overcame a 25-point, 11-rebound performance from UIndy sophomore Samantha Meissel to eliminate the Greyhounds in the quarterfinal round of the conference tourney.

The Hounds controlled the early portion of the half by quickly jumping out to a 12-4 lead, capped by a Jessica Canary three.  A transition bucket from Meissel punctuated another Indianapolis run, this time putting the Hounds up 21-9 less than eight minutes in.

The Lady Hawks came charging back at that point, scoring 17 of the game's next 19 points to take their first lead of the game at 26-23.  The run spanned more than eight minutes and featured three Greyhound turnovers.

The Hounds regained the lead just before the halftime buzzer as sophomore Hillary Wenning drained a triple with 10 seconds remaining to give UIndy a 29-28 edge.  Meissel led all scorers at the break with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, followed by nine points from Canary.

With three ties and two lead changes scattered across the final twenty minutes, the second half remained close throughout as neither team led by more than five points the rest of the way.  The opponents found themselves tied at 37 apiece four minutes into the period, and later in a 47-all stalemate with eight minutes remaining.

After the Greyhounds started the half 0-for-6 from long range, Canary drained a big three at the 3:55 mark to trim a 56-51 QU lead to a deuce.  A minute later, an Isabell Rhenwrick offensive rebound led directly to a lay-up by Meissel to cut it to one.  The Lady Hawks scored four answered from that point, however, to put the advantage back to five with just two minutes to play. 

The teams traded baskets to keep the lead at five, and with the clock showing just 19 ticks, the Greyhounds faced an up-hill climb with little time to spare, but Canary stepped up again with another triple to make it a one-possession game.

UIndy fouled quickly to put QU senior Jessica Keller at the line for a one-and-one.  A 75 percent free throw shooter, Keller made the first but missed the second to give the Hounds a chance.  With just five seconds remaining, the Hounds went the length of court but could not manage a good shot as the Lady Hawks moved on to the GLVC semifinals.

Keller, fresh off being named the GLVC Player of the Year, and Meissel engaged in quite the scoring battle in the second half, as the All-GLVC First Team honorees each scored 14 points in the final twenty minutes.  Though she did commit nine turnovers, Keller finished with team highs with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Meissel notched her fifth straight 20-point output and her second double-double in three games.

Other Greyhound contributions included Canary's 20 points and eight boards, six assists and two steals from Katie Dewey, and eight points and three steals from Megan Gardner.

UIndy now awaits its fate for the upcoming NCAA tournament as the Division II field of 64 will be released at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday night, with the top-eight teams from the eight regions being selected.  The Hounds sit seventh in the current Midwest Region poll.  The DII tourney begins at eight regional sites March 13, 14 and 16.