by (Lawrence, Kansas) – The Haskell Indian Nations University women’s basketball team captured their tenth win of the season and moved to (10-1) on the season after defeating William Penn University by a final score of 87-72.
The lady Indians were led by senior guard Jenine Coriz (Cochiti Pueblo), who had a game high 25 points and 11 assists versus the Statesmen. It was the first double-double of the season for Coriz and she added three steals in the game as well.
The Haskell lady’s, who were playing their first game at Coffin Sports complex since November 11th, came out with the hot hand as they knocked down their first five shots from behind the arc to take a 15-5 lead over the Statesmen. But the talented and bigger Statesmen battled their way back behind the shooting of Janay Pritchett and Katie Golomski who each had nine and eight points respectively in the half. Six players from Haskell would knock down a 3-pointer in the half as the Indians and Statesmen went in tied at the half 43-43.
In the second half, the defense of Haskell proved to be much for the Statesmen to handle as they held them to 31% shooting while Haskell shot 58% from both the field and behind the arc. Four Haskell players scored double-digits in the game with Tahnee Stands scoring 13 of her 18 total points in the second half. Kortney Meat scored 14 points and Jennah Williams had 11 points to round out the double-digit scorers. Lynaail Curely and Tinaya Murphy both played big minutes off the bench on the defensive side of the ball while each adding three points for Haskell.
For the first time in program history, the Lady Indians improved their overall season record to (10-1) which best the Haskell Lady’s team from the 2009-2010 season. One of those players from that squad that qualified for the NAIA National Tournament and current assistant coach Lois Stevens noted some comparisons between the two squads after the game. Stevens said, “We had great players like Justina (George) and Mariah (Parker) but Jenine Coriz has capabilities to go beyond what Justina was.” She also added that the main difference between that team the year she played was they have more scorers now than they did on the 2009-2010 squad that finished the season (20-8).
One of the players driving Haskell’s current success is senior point guard and team leader Jenine Coriz, Jenine is (before this game) averaging 15.5 points per game and 3.9 assists per game, both of which are team highs. Jenine talked about her performance and team goals for the Indians this season team, “We were excited because it was our first home game in over a month maybe, so we were excited and one of our goals is to play hard every home game and I think we did that (tonight)”.
Head coach Shane Flanagan said of the game against the Statesmen, “Going into this game, I was very concerned because William Penn is a good team, they are well coached, they match up well athletically and they shoot the ball and defend well….overall I was pleased with the performance tonight and the way things are going for us right now.”
“We got St. Ambrose (Iowa) next and they are a ranked (18th) team coming and we want ranked teams coming in and playing us. They are very good and they execute and we are focused in on them. We want to finish the next two games before going into the break.” Coach Flanagan said.
The Lady Indians will host 18th ranked St. Ambrose (Iowa) on December 17th at 5:00 PM CST inside Coffin Sports Complex. After that game, Haskell will travel south to Ottawa, Kansas to take on the Braves of OU before taking time off for the semester break. After that game, the Indians will return to action in the New Year on January 2nd when they host the Bethany College Swedes. Tip-off for that game will be at 5:30 PM CST.
