VINCENNES, Ind. -- The Vincennes University Women’s Basketball team erased a 19-point deficit before coming away with a 69-67 win over visiting Southeastern Illinois inside the VU P.E. Complex Tuesday evening.

Freshman Fess Hawkins capped the comeback, against the District P foe, with a lay-in to beat the buzzer. Jaynice Stovall fed Hawkins on a sideline inbound play with just one second remaining.

“That is the (assistant coach) Clyde Buck special,” VU coach Harry Meeks said of the game-winning play. “Fess set it up nicely. She walked up ran behind the defense and the defender in the middle couldn’t see where she way, Fess caught it and laid it right in. Give coach Buck all the credit, he instructed the girls right where they needed to be. Jaynice made a perfect pass, and Fess out jumped the kid and that was it.”

Southeastern Illinois raced out to an 18-2 lead just over halfway through the first quarter.

The Trailblazers missed 10 of their first 11 shots and turned the ball over four times.

Meeks decided to turn to his bench for a spark.

After a pair of free throws by Hawkins ended a four-minute scoring drought, Meeks pulled all five of his starters.

The reserves responded with a 7-0 spurt as the Trailblazers pulled to within 18-11 at the end of the first 10 minutes of play.

“We got off to a horrendously bad start,” Meeks said. “I just got tired of watching them not playing as hard as what I thought they should so I substituted them all out. But that group we put in there, they made up some ground for us and kept us in the game.”

The Trailblazers started the second quarter slow as well, falling behind 33-14 with 6:42 left in the half before, once again, slowly chipping away.

VU finished the half on a 15-5 run pulling to within 38-29.

The Trailblazers kept the momentum in the second half as they closed the gap to 48-48 heading into the fourth quarter.

An offensive put back by Hawkins pulled VU even with 4:17 remaining in the game.

Diamond Fields knocked down a baseline jumper with 2:56 remaining for a 61-59 lead -- the first of the game for VU.

The Lady Hawks stormed back for a 65-62 lead before freshman Reeva Hammelman took a pass from Stovall and drained a 3-pointer, tying the game with 30 seconds remaining.

Fields gave the Trailblazers a 67-65 lead with a pair of free throws with 10 ticks left.

Southeastern tied the game with seven seconds left before Stovall and Hawkins teamed up.

“Just a good basketball game and a great game to come away with a win,” Meeks said. “This is the type of game you think back on at the end of the season and say ‘wow, that’s a big win’.”

Fields scored a game-high 19 points coming off the bench in the win.

“She done a great job coming off the bench and scoring all kinds of points for us,” the veteran VU coach said. “And she scored some big points too. She has earned herself a lot more minutes with her play not only tonight but the last couple of games.”

Hawkins recorded her third double-double of the season as she finished with 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Stovall finished with eight points, four assists and three steals, while Ivanda Hudjakova added six points and 12 boards.

VU (6-3, 2-0) shot just 21-for-71 (30 percent) from the field but out rebounded the Hawks 48-34.

The Trailblazers return to the court next Tuesday with a road contest against the junior varsity team of Lindsay Wilson.

###

Follow all Trailblazer athletics on Twitter @VUBlazerSports and on Facebook.

LINK to VU Online Newsroom, click HERE

VICKIE PUFFER, Communications Coordinator & Online Newsroom Manager

812-888-4162 office, 812-887-4635 cell, VUNews@vinu.edu, vpuffer@vinu.edu

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