The Indiana State women's basketball defeated the Bellarmine Knights at Friday night's expedition game; giving the fans a preview of the upcoming season.  ISU dominated the Knights 84-39, with every player contributing at least one shot.

"I feel better in the fact that we have more pieces.  Last year, we didn't have the number of kids or depth on the perimeter," Head Coach Teri Moren said.  "I wish we were a little deeper on the inside, in terms of bodies, but eventually it's going to come along nicely."

The Sycamores were 33 of 71 from the field and made eight 3-point shots out of 21 attempts.  ISU was 10 of 14 from the  free throw line (71.4 percent).

Senior center Shannon Thomas, senior guard Brittany Schoen and senior guard and forward Deja Mattox  led the team in scoring, and each finished the game in double figures.  Thomas was 6-10 from the field and Schoen led the team in 3-point shots, knocking down 5 of 7 attempts. 

Sophomore center Sadie Oyer led the team in offensive rebounds at three and Thomas lead with seven defensive rebounds.

"I am glade everyone got in and got to play.  You could see the depth in our team.  It gets me excited just to see what comes for the rest of the season," Thomas said.

ISU won the tip off for the first half.  A 3-pointer by sophomore guard Anna Munn put the Sycamores on the board first.  Bellarmine fought back to tie the game at five but ISU put them in their place with a Schoen 3-pointer assisted by junior guard Taylor Whitley, putting the Sycamores in a lead they never lost.  

With 15:19 remaining in the first half, a defensive rebound sent the Sycamores down the court to set up sophomore forward Andrea Rademacher for a jumper shot which extended  ISU's lead,  11-5.  The Knights snuck in one more baskets before ISU took off with a 14 point run, including two free throws by Whitley, a 3-pointer by Rademacher and a 3-pointer by Schoen, bringing the score to 25-9.

ISU went on  another 14 point run, with 6:20 remaining in the first half. The run consisted of three layups by Thomas, a free throw and layup by Whitley and Mattox and a layup by freshman guard Natasha Zurek, keeping the Sycamores in the lead at 47-16.  The final point in the first half came from a Bellarmine jump shot, ending the first half 47-18, ISU.

The second half opened with a 3-pointer by Schoen assisted by Munn.  Schoen kept it up with two more 3-pointers, followed by an Oyer layup, which brought the Sycamores to a 58-23 lead over the Knights.

With 11:10 remaining in the second half, ISU went on a six point run consisting of a free throw by Mattox, a jumper by Rademacher and a jumper by freshman guard Jessica Valley.  

ISU kept racking up points with a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Nikki Gunning assisted by freshman guard Travecia Franklin, followed by a layup from Franklin, bringing the score to 80-36. 

The Knights scored two more 2-pointers before ISU wrapped up the game with a layup by freshman forward Racheal Mahan.  Final game score was 84-39, ISU.

"I am excited, especially after tonight, seeing how we put everything together and how we worked well as a team; knowing are strengths and our weaknesses, we need to get better with our weaknesses but defensively we took it up to the next notch," Schoen said.

The Lady Sycamores return to Hulman Center Friday to kick off their preseason against Detroit.  The game starts at 8:05 p.m.