VINCENNES, Ind. - For the second straight game, Jhala Henry had the hot hand for the Vincennes University women’s basketball team.

The Trailblazers freshman connected on six 3-pointers for the second straight game and produced a game-high 20 points to lead VU to an 84-48 thrashing of visiting Mineral Area on Wednesday inside the P.E. Complex. 

With the win the Trailblazers improve to 19-6 on the season and avenged a 20-point loss to Mineral Area earlier in the season.

“It sure is nice to have Jhala back to shooting the ball the way she has been,” Trailblazers coach Harry Meeks said of his freshman guard. “She had really been in a slump before these last two games.”

Her teammates followed suit early on as well.

Reeva Hammelman and Jaynice Stovall knocked down 3-pointers, to go along with Henry’s two, as the hosts raced out to an 18-4 lead with 4 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

“We have really been working on coming out stronger and getting early leads,” Meeks stated. “The girls did a good job of coming out and setting the tone early again tonight.”

VU led 28-12 after the first 10 minutes of play and the lead stretched to 48-26 at halftime.

The Trailblazers defense remained strong in the second half, as the Lady Cards were held to just 22 points over the final 20 minutes of play. Mineral Area, who were missing two players from their win over the Trailblazers earlier in the season, failed to score more than 14 points in any quarter.

“I think our defense was pretty good throughout the game,” the veteran VU coach said. “The girls played really hard all night.”

Stovall and Hammelman joined Henry in double figures with 14 and 11 points respectively.

Stovall added five steals and four assists.

Ivanda Hudjakova was one point shy of a double-double as the sophomore pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds in the win.

Nickelle O’Neil continued her strong play off the VU bench as the freshman guard pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists, came away with three steals and added a 3-pointer.

The Trailblazers close out the home portion of their regular season on Saturday against Southwestern Illinois.

“I really like the way the girls are playing right now these last couple of weeks,” Meeks said. “The girls are all playing hard, giving great effort and have great camaraderie.”


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TRAVIS DAVID, Assistant Sports Information Director
812-888-6831 office, vuathletics@vinu.edu
MARCIA MARTINEZ, University Life Reporter & Sports Information Director
812-888-4164 office, 314-599-1519 cell, VUNews@vinu.edu, mmartinez@vinu.edu

VINCENNES UNIVERSITY, Department of University Relations, www.vinu.edu/news/newsroom