By Craig Pearson
TERRE HAUTE — Tuesday’s battle with Detroit Mercy will show up as a 17-point victory on paper, a rout during a 6-0 start for the Indiana State women’s basketball team.
But Detroit Mercy, down to eight active and healthy players, was almost able to turn the momentum its way late in the second half in Hulman Center.
Coach Jim Wiedie was encouraged by the way the Sycamores turned to their staples of hard-nosed defense and a deep bench to earn a comfortable 70-53 victory when his team was not at its best.
The Titans (1-4) and Sycamores (6-0) played to a virtual standstill in the opening half. Shooting 44.8 percent in the first half of its first five wins, ISU was held to a season-worst 33.3 percent in Tuesday’s opening 20 minutes.
Detroit coach Autumn Rademacher had a gameplan to slow down ISU’s offense and it was centered on a box-and-one defense designed to deny Kelsey Luna from making plays for ISU.
Riding a scoring average of 22.9 points and getting an average of 13 shot attempts in ISU’s first five games, Luna was held to one shot attempt in the first half.
Of course, Luna knocked down that shot attempt, a step-back 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring, with 5:54 to go in the half to put the Sycamores ahead 28-22. Luna’s three free throws on a 3-point attempt in the opening minute would give her a season-low total of six points.
In that sense, Detroit’s gameplan worked well.
Luna's teammates, however, made sure the plan did not succeed.
Shannon Thomas continued her emergence in the post. The 6-foot-4 Thomas poured in 15 of her 17 points in the second half and finished with nine rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots. Chelsea Buher added 15 points on 5 for 7 shooting from beyond the 3-point line.
“We thought 33 [Luna] was the heart and soul of the team … She’s the one we really focused in on,” Rademacher said. “We did a good job of contesting her and making her work for everything. I don’t think we were ready for Shannon [Thomas] to do what she did inside.”
In addition to making quicker and more decisive moves in the second half, Thomas found open teammates. Thomas threw a crisp crosscourt pass to freshman Moriah Hodge for a 3-pointer near the end of a 14-4 run by ISU that put the Sycamores ahead 52-42 with 10:45 to play.
Hodge’s 3-pointer was just minutes after freshman Taylor Whitley set up Buher’s fourth made 3-pointer of the game. Buher hit another one to keep the Sycamores ahead 57-45 with 8:43 to go.
Battling a back injury and playing limited minutes, Buher, a native of Lawrenceville, Ill., and University of Illinois transfer, has put together two straight strong games in the span of three days.
“It has a lot to do with going out there and getting a few more minutes because it takes me a little bit to get warmed up coming off the bench,” Buher said. “After knocking down those few shots the other day [Sunday against Central Michigan], it’s flowing.”
Detroit’s gameplan was surprising to Wiedie.
“Usually when you junk [defense], you do that when a team only has one or two good offensive players,” Wiedie said. “You generally don’t do it against a team that has a lot of scorers. What it does is forces other players to step up and hit shots. Unfortunately, in the first half we didn’t hit shots. We got the shots to fall in the second half, and got Shannon involved.”
Rademacher’s team began sinking in to stop Thomas and the Sycamore shooters were able to make the Titans pay. ISU finished 11 for 28 on 3-pointers, led by Buher and Schoen (3 for 11).
“We got sucked inside, and weren’t able to locate like we wanted to out on their 3-point shooters. They’ve got a whole slew of them,” Rademacher said.
