SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Four players finished in double figures, as IU South Bend secured their fourth win in a row by defeating Oakland City (Ind.), 85-72 inside the Student Activities Center on Thursday night.
Rachael Robards led all scorers, finishing with 19 points in the win and going 5-for-10 from three-point range. Katie Gard collected 17 points along with seven rebounds and four assists, while Maddie Gard scored 16 points to go with six boards, five assists, and five steals. Maddy Schumacher pitched in with ten points off the bench.
The Titans (10-3) got off to a slow start, allowing the visitors to take an early 8-3 lead in the first two minutes of play. Oakland City (3-6) then went cold, scoring just one field goal in the next four and a half minutes as IUSB claimed an 18-10 advantage by the 4:13 mark of the first quarter. The Mighty Oaks responded with four points in the final minute of play in the first, cutting the Titan lead to 22-19 at the end of the opening period.
IUSB started to pull away in the second quarter, as a score from Sullivan Kessler started an 11-2 run that gave the Titans a double-digit advantage, 33-24 midway through the period. Another run of nine unanswered points gave IUSB their largest lead of the first half, when Emma Fisher scored to put the Titans up 49-28 with 1:14 left in the second quarter.
The Mighty Oaks made a run in the third that would briefly cut the deficit to single digits. Scoring 13 unanswered and holding the Titans without a field goal for 4:34, the visitors closed the gap to 56-45 by the 5:09 mark of the third quarter. Just over a minute later, another bucket would make it a nine-point game, before three-pointers from Schumacher and Sara Doi pushed the Titan lead back up to 65-53 at the 2:20 mark.
The Titans were able to maintain their double-digit lead throughout the rest of the night, securing their fourth straight victory, and pushing their home record to 6-0 on the year.
IUSB takes the court at the Student Activities Center again on Saturday, playing their third game in the last four days when they resume conference play and host IU Northwest. Tipoff with the Redhawks is set for 1:00 p.m. on December 11.