Henson Reaches 1,000-Career Points in Wire-to-Wire Win for Taylor

UPLAND, Ind. – Ava Henson became the 28th player in Taylor women's basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points as the Trojans (2-0) achieved a wire-to-wire, 97-59 victory over IU Columbus (0-1) Tuesday night.

Hosting IUC in its inaugural women's basketball contest, TU was too much to handle from the opening tip for the visiting Crimson Pride. Henson started the scoring with a layup, and Taylor quickly had a 7-0 lead just one minute into the game.

Ahead 11-7, Henson took an inbounds pass from Emma Fohl with 5:15 remaining in the first quarter, drove baseline past flaring defenders and put up perhaps the easiest layup of her career for her 1,000th career point, and head coach Cassie Wiseman quickly called timeout to recognize her graduate senior.

Maycee Woods caught fire off the bench late in the first period, splashing in two triples as she helped Taylor to a 29-11 advantage.

Graduate-senior transfer Ellie Vermilion hit a pair of three-pointers for her first baskets as a Trojan in the second period, and TU collectively scored another 26 points in the frame as it entered halftime ahead, 55-26. Kendall Wayne, Woods and Vermilion each had two treys by the intermission, with Wayne at a steady 12 points.

Taylor kept its foot on the gas on both ends of the court through the third quarter, which set the stage for a brilliant fourth period from Ainsley West and Katie Moyer.

West made her second, third and fourth treys of the night in a span of two minutes early in the final quarter, while Moyer heated up in the final few minutes of the night with seven points – including a three-pointer and a nifty reverse layup.

Wayne finished with a team-best, career-high 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the floor. Henson tallied 14, and Quinn Kelly and West had 12 points apiece, with Kelly doing so on an efficient 5-of-6 accuracy. Freshman McKayah Musselman scored eight points in her collegiate debut.

Fohl recorded six of TU's 27 assists, while Henson and Maddie Drye contributed four dimes each. The four assists for Drye marks a new career high.

Kacey Ott grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end. Whitney Warfel also made an impact with four offensive boards.

The Trojans dominated the glass with a 57-36 rebounding advantage, and they outshot the Crimson Pride from deep, 14-for-28 (50 percent) to 6-for-26 (23.1 percent).

Taylor travels to Butler University on Friday for an exhibition at 7 p.m. before returning home to Odle Arena on Saturday at 5 p.m. to face Trinity Christian (0-0).