Box Score

BIG RAPIDS, Mich.-  After trailing most of the first half, the UIndy women's basketball team (8-2) opened the second with a 13-2 run and didn't look back, earning a 65-55 road win at in-region Ferris State Friday afternoon.  Junior guard Kristin Turner amassed a career-high 25 points to lead the Greyhounds to their eighth consecutive win.

The Hounds overcame a slow start to shoot a much-improved 43 percent from the floor in the final period, with 17 of their second-half points coming at the foul line.

Turner supplemented her lofty point total with a personal-best six steals while shooting 4-for-6 from 3-point range.

The host Bulldogs (6-3) built an early lead by scoring the game's first six points, and less a short-lived 13-12 UIndy edge at the 12:24 mark, FSU never trailed in the entire first half.  A last-second put back by reigning GLIAC North Player of the Week Sarah DeShone made it 25-21 Bulldogs at the break.

Playing its first game in 11 days, UIndy shot just 27 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and made just four buckets from inside the arc.

When asked of his team's early struggles correlating to the holiday break, Head Coach Constantin Popa said: “I do believe that the time off had something to do with it.  Obviously, it was a well deserved break and it allowed the players to relax a little bit and spend time with their families, but I think it did affect us.  It took us a little bit to get back in the rhythm of the game, but we came out of the locker room a totally different team."

If there was any lingering rust, the Hounds shook it off during the intermission by orchestrating a game-changing 13-2 run to start the second half.  Turner scored five points in the half's first 60 seconds to put the Hounds up 26-25, a lead they would not relinquish.

"There wasn't any real specific adjustment (at halftime)," said Popa, "but I challenged them to focus and create offense with defense, which we did.  We created a lot of turnovers with our zone defense by being aggressive, and when we didn't get a turnover, we forced (Ferris State) to take some shots that they really didn't want to take."

The Greyhoud defensive pressure translated to 22 points off turnovers.

Meanwhile, Turner reached the quarter century mark despite picking up her fourth personal foul with 10:22 left in the game.  Seconds after the Seymour, Ind., native had to sit, the Bulldogs cut the margin to three on a Christina Branch layup and looked primed to make a run.

The Greyhounds squashed any such notion, however, as sophomore guards Katy McIntosh and Megan Birchmeier picked up the slack with a combined 16 second-half points.  McIntosh finished the game with 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Commented Popa: "If someone needs to step up, they'll do it.  We don't win with a player or two, we win with the whole team.  We all have to contribute.  Obviously, you'll have someone get more points or more rebounds or whatever, but the bottom line is the team.  As long as we play together and compete and challenge each other, we'll be fine."

A 3-pointer from Birchmeier with 6:44 left gave UIndy its first double-digit lead of the day.  The Greyhound advantage topped out at 15 before the Bulldogs whittled it to 10 points by the final buzzer.

Turner and McIntosh were the only Hounds in double digits, but junior Sydney Weinert corralled a game-high nine rebounds and senior Megan Gardner had two assists and two steals.

DeShone led Ferris State with 16 points and six boards.

Friday's win not only marked the final contest of 2011 for the Hounds, but also the final non-conference game of the 2011-12 regular season.  The Greyhounds begin the New Year with the first of 16 straight GLVC games when they travel to Illinois-Springfield Thursday, Jan. 5.