INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Indianapolis women's basketball team stepped onto Ray Skillman Court inside Nicoson Hall for the first time this season on Tuesday (Nov. 17) night, hosting the Yellow Jackets of Cedarville University.
 
Despite trailing for the majority of the game, the Yellow Jackets closed out the game on a 14-1 run to steal a 47-44 win from the Greyhounds, spoiling their home opener.
 
Senior Princess German and junior Nicole Anderson finished with 15 points each for the Greyhounds (0-3), but UIndy was held without a field goal over the final 5:26 while the Yellow Jackets (1-2) surged down the stretch.
 
"It was a tough loss because of the way our offense stalled tonight," Head coach Constantin Popa said. "We really needed someone to get aggressive and look to score every time they touched the ball and that just didn't happen. Defensively, we did a really nice job tonight and we held onto the ball much better tonight than we did last weekend. We just need to put it all together for a full 40-minutes."
 
The two defenses wasted no time setting the tone for a low-scoring contest. After back-to-back triples from German to open the game, the two squads would combine for just five field goals throughout the remainder of the first quarter. After 10 minutes, the Hounds held a 10-6 edge.
 
Cedarville would knot the game up at 12 early in the second quarter but UIndy answered with threes from Jordan Cole and Tina Negoescu and an Ashley Montanez jumper to take a 20-12 lead. Anderson connected for seven points alone in the second 10 minute frame and at the break, the Hounds held a 27-18 lead.
 
Two more buckets from Anderson coupled with layups from Devin Ferguson and Sarah Costello gave the Greyhounds their largest lead of the night at 35-22 3:33 to play in the third but Cedarville answered with a 7-0 run to close the half and cut the lead to 35-29.
 
The Greyhounds extended their lead back to double-figures and after German knocked down her third triple of the game with 5:26 to go, UIndy held a 43-34 advantage.
 
That was when the offense dried up for the Hounds while Cedarville's Kaysie Brittenham's two three-pointers sparked the Yellow Jackets' surge. Down by three with a little more than two seconds to play, the Greyhounds had a chance to even up the game, but German's bid to tie the game from the corner went just long.
 
UIndy's defense held the Yellow Jackets in check, holding Cedarville to 34.5 percent (19-for-55) shooting and 30.8 percent (4-for-13) from long range. But the Hounds knocked down just 29.3 percent (17-for-58) of their attempts and 22.2 percent (6-for-27) of their triples.
 
Rebounds were 40-38 in favor of Cedarville with Montanez setting a new career-high with 11 boards for UIndy. The Hounds did an exceptional job of holding on to the ball on Tuesday night, forcing 16 turnovers while committing only 10.
 
The Hounds will have a day off on Wednesday before looking to bounce back on Thursday night when they welcome the Warriors of Wayne State University (Mich.) to Nicoson Hall for a 6:00 p.m. start time.
 
Click the play button above to hear the entire interview with Coach Popa.