LIBERTY, Mo. – Led by a game-high 29 points from junior Martha Burse, the University of Indianapolis women's basketball team punched their ticket to the quarterfinals of the 2017 Deaconess GLVC Women's Basketball Championship with a 66-48 win over William Jewell College on Sunday.
 
Making their 10^th straight appearance in the conference tourney, UIndy (16-13) led from wire-to-wire on their way to victory. The Greyhounds were dominant at both ends of the floor on Sunday, holding the Cardinals (14-13) to just 26.4 percent (14-for-53) shooting while connecting on 61.9 percent (26-for-42) of their attempts.
 
UIndy notched their eighth consecutive GLVC opening round win on Sunday, getting a bit of payback against an opponent that upended them earlier in the year.
 
"We did a much better job covering their shooters today and offensively we just executed better than the last time we met them," Head coach Kristin Drabyn said. "We played great team basketball and we played hard and we gave ourselves a chance to win."
 
The Greyhounds came out firing in the first quarter, knocking down nine of their first 11 shots to jump out to a 21-11 lead. William Jewell would close the gap to 21-15 after one quarter, but the Hounds were able to re-claim their double-digit lead late in the first half before taking a 37-24 lead into the locker room.
 
Burse had 17 points alone in the opening half on 7-of-9 shooting. She combined with Sydney Brackemyre to score 26 of UIndy's 37 first half points.
 
"Martha was ready to go today and she took her shots where she needed to. She's a big part of our offense and when she's shooting like that, we're a tough team to beat."
 
The Hounds never led by fewer than 10 points the rest of the way, using an efficient and effective offensive attack to keep the lead in double figures over the final 20 minutes. UIndy closed out the third quarter on a 12-5 run to take a 54-37 lead into the final quarter. The lead would grow to as many as 20 in the fourth quarter as UIndy put the finishing touches on an impressive win.
 
Brackemyre and Nicole Anderson joined Burse in double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively. UIndy outscored the Cardinals 20-14 in the paint and got a boost from their bench with 20 points coming from Greyhound reserves to just three for William Jewell.
 
UIndy controlled the game on the glass, out-rebounding the Cardinals 36-24. Burse and Brackemyre led all players with eight boards each. The Hounds had 12 assists on their 26 field goals, with Devin Ferguson's five helpers leading all players.
 
"Our kids know that it's post-season play and we had a real sense of urgency. We're also getting healthier and we've got some momentum to take with us into the week."
 
Next up for the Greyhounds is a trip to the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. for the quarterfinals of the 2017 Deaconess GLVC Women's Basketball Championship. Awaiting the Greyhounds on Friday, Mar. 3 are the winners of the GLVC East Division, the No. 2-seeded Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles.
 
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. eastern time.
 
Notes
-UIndy improves to 21-14 all-time at the GLVC Tournament
-This marks the third straight year the Greyhounds have opened the conference tournament with a true road win, joining victories over Truman (2015) and McKendree (2016).
-With her 11 points, Anderson moves to within 10 points of Mary Maravilla (1,131 pts) for 17th place on the program's all-time scoring list.