Three-point barrage leads Haskell past Eutectics in Tip-Off Classic

ST. LOUIS, MO – The Eutectics played their home opener on Friday night as the final game of the Tip-Off Classic hosted by UHSP. In a showcase of some of the top NAIA teams across the country, the Eutectics were matched up against Haskell Indian Nations, a National Tournament qualifier from a year ago. The Fighting Indians up-tempo style and hot shooting gave the Eutectics trouble as Haskell came away with a 93-79 win. Ona Dauphinais led all scorers with 29 points and made nine of her first ten three-pointers, finishing 9-for-12 from deep.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

HASKELL 93, UHSP 79

• Haskell opened the contest by scoring the game's first 13 points. The Fighting Indians extended the lead to 15 at 19-4 with 4:00 left in the first quarter. Aryanna Bull managed to get the deficit back to single digits with a couple of free throws to make it 23-14, but Dauphinais made her fifth triple of the quarter to put the visitors on top 26-14 after one.
• In the second, the first three field goals from HINU were all from deep as Dauphinais added one and Tierzah Penn knocked down a pair to take a 35-18 advantage just 1:45 into the quarter. The Fighting Indians had the game completely in hand as Trinity Wheeler's layup made the score 45-21 with 5:45 left. Bree Johnson's three-ball and a layup from Alana Stephens extended the HINU lead to their largest of the game at 52-24 as the Eutectics looked on the verge of being blown out. But over the final 3:34 of the half, UHSP went on a 12-0 run to make it 52-36 at the half. Analyssa Maldonado had a triple and an old-fashioned three-point play and the Euts got field goals from Da'Naiyah Darnell and Montasia McAllister as part of that run.
• The Fighting Indians had eight assists on eight field goals in the third as a 22-18 quarter extended their lead to 74-54. Dauphinais had nine points in the quarter as she nailed three triples while Alina Bowden gave UHSP a spark off the bench with six points in the period.
• With 4:04 left in the game, Haskell built a 22-point advantage at 85-63 when the Eutectics began a frantic push that nearly brought them all the way back. UHSP ramped up the defensive pressure creating turnovers while they went 10-of-26 from the floor in the quarter. Haskell had 23 turnovers in the game, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter. Bowden had a pair from the foul line that got the Eutectics to within 11, but with only 1:04 left in the game, UHSP ran out of time.
• Analyssa Maldonado and Alina Bowden each went for 16 points in the loss for UHSP. The pair combined to go 11-of-20 from the floor.
• Angela Astorga had 12 points and seven rebounds for Haskell.
• HINU shot 47% from the floor to 34% for UHSP. The Eutectics took 16 more field goals, but made four fewer.
• The Eutectics won the battle of the boards 50-44. The 50 rebounds are tied for the seventh most in a single game in UHSP history.
• The two clubs had split two previous meetings as HINU is now 2-1 against UHSP.

NEXT UP:

It will be day two of the Tip-Off Classic as UHSP (0-2) will face 6^th-ranked Freed-Hardeman (3-0) at 5:00p on Saturday. The Lions looked every bit of a top-10 team as they had the showcase game of the first day of the Classic and polished off St. Thomas out of Miami, FL, 92-78.