Lions score game's first 19 points to sink UHSP

Not the close to the Arizona trip that UHSP Head Coach Jeff Reis and his team was hoping for. After hanging tough against the 12^th-ranked team in the country in a nine-point loss on Tuesday night, things did not go as swimmingly Thursday night against 10^th-ranked Vanguard. The Lions used a game-deciding 19-0 run right off the opening tip to put the Eutectics in a hole they could never recover from. Vanguard won convincingly 84-64 to drop UHSP below .500 at 4-5.

The Eutectics did not score their first points until the 3:48 left in the opening quarter when Elizabeth Allanach hit a lay-up. That was after the Lions scored the game's first 19 points hitting on seven of their first 11 shots capped by a three-pointer from Sarah Matossian midway through the quarter. The Eutectics shot just 4-for-17 in the period and trailed 27-12 after one.

It was an uphill battle the rest of the way for the Purple and Gold. They would trail by as many as 23 in the second quarter and could bring it no closer than a 16-point deficit as it was 44-23 at the half. Vanguard was unrelenting in the second half. They would build the lead to 30 in the third quarter on a pair of Halle Si'i free throws at 4:07 to go up 65-34. It was 23-point Lions lead to the fourth at 68-45. In the final quarter, Grace Beyer turned in a 13-point stanza and Allanach and Emily Coleman hit three's for UHSP's only points in the period.

The final road game of the 2023 portion of the schedule proved to be a rough shooting night for the Eutectics as they were 23-of-66 from the floor for 34.8% while Vanguard hit half their field goals going 31-of-62. The Lions buried 16 triples to just seven for UHSP and also won the rebound battle 42-35. Grace Beyer did lead all scorers with 37 points, 28 of those in the second half. Beyer added nine rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Elizabeth Allanach finished with eight points and four boards, three assists and three steals. The Lions had Melissa Akullu and Sarah Matossian each go for 22 points and that pair combined for 17 rebounds, eight assists and 11 steals. Airiana Madanski chipped in with 18 points for Vanguard.

The Eutectics have one game left before the calendar flips to 2024 as they play on the penultimate day of December, a home contest against Fontbonne at the UHSP Gymnasium.