Lakers Offense Chilled By Titans In CCAC Quarterfinals

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Roosevelt's offense went cold at the wrong moments as the Lakers' season ended Wednesday night with a 72-55 loss against Indiana University South Bend in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference quarterfinals in South Bend, Indiana.

The eighth-seeded Lakers dug themselves an early hole by making just 5 of 17 from the field in the first quarter, including a nearly seven-minute stretch when they were held scoreless. The Titans went on a 12-0 run during that spurt to turn a 7-5 deficit into a 10-point lead, but that proved to be the second-most important run of the half. The other run came in the second quarter after Roosevelt scored nine points in about two minutes to cut a 13-point deficit down to four. The Titans responded by scoring the final 10 points of the half to take the lead into the intermission and taking the momentum away from the visitors.

Roosevelt had its chances in the second half to make a game of it, but the offense could not capitalize on the long stretches of defensive success. Indiana South Bend stretched its lead to 19 points with 6:13 left in the third quarter, but the Lakers held the Titans to just two points for the remainder of the quarter. However, the Lakers scored just eight points in that stretch and made 1 of 7 from behind the arc while limiting Indiana South Bend to 35 percent shooting in the quarter.

The Lakers also had some chances to potentially make a run in the fourth quarter, but they scored just six points in the last seven minutes of the game as the deficit ballooned from 13 points to as many as 21. Roosevelt still finished the game shooting nearly 41 percent from the field, but it made just 5 of 21 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, the Titans shot 47 percent from the field, but cooled down in the second half after making 8 of 15 from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

Jayla Turchin led the charge with 11 points and South Bend native Meghan Urbanski scored 10 points in her collegiate finale. Erionna Moore grabbed six rebounds in her final collegiate game while Kencia Levasseur provided a spark off the bench with eight points and seven boards in 14 minutes of action. Amelia McNutt scored eight points in her last college basketball game to finish with 729 career points in two seasons with the Lakers.

Roosevelt finishes the season 12-15 overall with a 9-11 mark in the CCAC, matching the 2018-19 squad for the most conference wins since the program went to the NAIA Tournament in 2013-14. Turchin finished the season averaging 16.8 points per game, becoming the fourth different Roosevelt player to average at least 16 points per game in a season. Not only was the junior's scoring output is the fifth-best scoring season in program history, Turchin also set the program record by shooting 41.9 percent from 3-point range, the best of any player with at least three attempts per game in a season.