INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Indianapolis women's basketball team wrapped up their first weekend of play in 2016 on Saturday, notching their first conference victory of the year with a hard-fought 64-55 win over Missouri-St. Louis inside Nicoson Hall.
 
The Greyhounds withstood a second half comeback from the Tritons to improve to 3-11 on the year and 1-3 in GLVC play. Princess German led UIndy with 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Sarah Costello added 17 points for the Hounds and Devin Ferguson set a new career high with 13 points, connecting on all three of her attempts from long range.
 
UMSL got a game-high 31 points from Jordan Fletcher, with 15 of those point coming in the third quarter alone. Kelly Kunkel added 11 points for the Tritons, who fell to 6-7 on the year and 1-4 in GLVC play.
 
"Today was a really good win for us, and for us to get a split after a tough loss on Thursday is huge," head coach Constantin Popa said. "We really fought hard today, especially after they got back in the game in the second half. We kept pushing and made some adjustments that paid off for us late. Our guards were huge for us today. We expect that every game out of Princess and Sarah, and to have Devin really get involved in the offense is critical for us going forward. We always tell our team that we can't rely on one or two players each game. We need to get more from everybody and we did that this weekend."
 
The Greyhounds jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before the Tritons answered with 10 of the game's next 13 points to take a 10-7 lead with 6:25 to go in the opening quarter. UIndy responded by outscoring the Tritons 13-5 throughout the remainder of the quarter with eight of those points coming from Devin Ferguson, giving UIndy a 20-15 lead after one.
 
UIndy would turn to their defense in the second quarter to protect the lead, limiting the Triton to just 4 of 15 shooting in the second period. After UMSL cut the Greyhound lead to 21-19, UIndy outscored the visitors 9-4 over the remainder of the quarter and took a 30-23 lead into the locker room.
 
The Hounds came out firing from long range to open the second half as Princess German, Sarah Costello and Ferguson knocked down triples on three straight UIndy possessions to stretch the lead to 39-27 just 2:10 into the third quarter. The Tritons would pound the ball inside to Jordan Fletcher to climb back into the game and cut the lead to 47-42 after three quarters.
 
UMSL opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 51-49 lead, their first time in front since the 4:59 mark of the first quarter. The Greyhounds answered with back-to-back layups from German and Nicole Anderson to re-take the lead. Up 54-53 with 2:47 to go, German connected on a layup in traffic and followed it up with a steal and an easy fast break lay-in to stretch the lead to five.
 
The Hounds' defense sealed the game by holding the Tritons to 0-for-5 shooting and forced four turnovers over the final 2:47.
 
UIndy connected on 45.7 percent (21-for-46) of their field goals, going 7 of 20 from deep and 15 of 24 at the free throw line. At the other end, the Tritons shot 38.2 percent (21-for-55) on the day, hitting just 2 of 15 3-pointers and shooting 11-for-14 at the charity stripe.
 
Anderson, German and Tina Negoescu had six boards each to tie for the UIndy lead as the Hounds held a slim 33-32 edge on the boards. The Greyhounds won the turnover battle for fifth time this year, forcing 15 giveaways while coughing the ball up 14 times.
 
The Hounds will head out on the road for the first time in conference play next weekend, heading to Springfield, Mo. on Thursday, Jan. 14 to take on No. 6 Drury University. Tip-off is set for 6:30 EST.