Bonnie Ryan
GoSycamores.com

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Indiana State women's basketball team used a one-day turnaround to improve to 6-0 on the season, earning a 70-53 win over Detroit Mercy Tuesday night in front of 3,372 fans at Hulman Center.

Sophomore Shannon Thomas paced the Sycamores with 17 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, while sophomore Chelsea Buher built on her hot shooting performance from Sunday, totaling a career-high 15 points. The Lawrenceville, Ill., native was 5-for-7 from 3-point range and added six boards and an assist.

"That's two really good games for Chelsea back-to-back, and hopefully that's a sign of things to come," Head Coach Jim Wiedie said. "Especially if teams are going to zone us up, Chelsea is a very good outside shooter. She comes in, plays hard. She gets rebounds. She's all over the place. I thought she played an outstanding game. It's nice to see her get back to form, and hopefully we can get her healthy. Having her in the mix with some of the other players we have is really going to be a plus for us."

Junior Kelsie Cooley was ISU's top rebounder with 10 boards, and Brittany Schoen rounded out ISU's double-digit scoring effort with 11 points.

Detroit had just eight players to call upon, but the Titans put up a valiant effort in the first half. Senior Kelsey Luna opened the Sycamores' scoring with three free throws to go up 3-0, and UDM's Brigid Mulroy hit her first of six treys to tie it up. Sophomore Deja Mattox then hit a jumper, but an 11-4 run put the Titans ahead, 14-9.

Buher rallied the troops with her first triple of the game, and Taylor Whitley knotted the score at 14-all with a pair of free throws. Indiana State took its first multi-shot lead on a three from Luna and a layup from sophomore Brittany Schoen. She added a trey to go up 33-25, but five points from Detroit gave the Sycamores just a three-point lead at halftime.

Indiana State came out shooting in the second half and never gave up the lead for the remainder of the game. Thomas hit a layup to open the stanza, and UDM climbed within one at 40-39 on a jumper from Lauren Allen. Two 3-pointers from Buher, a field goal by Cooley and five points from freshman Moriah Hodge then put ISU up by 12. Mattox added five more points to extend the lead to 62-47.

Five additional points from Thomas and a trey from Schoen in the final two minutes capped the win at 70-53.

The Indiana State defense held Detroit's bench scoreless, but the Titans were led by senior Brigid Mulroy's 20 points on a 6-for-9 effort from long range. Yar Shayok finished with 12 rebounds for UDM, which dropped to 1-4 on the season.

"I have to give a lot of credit to Coach (Autumn) Rademacher and her staff for the gameplan that they came up with today," Wiedie said. "When Luna was out of the game, they were straight 2-3 zone, but when she was in, it was man-to-man on Luna and a diamond on everybody else. In the second half, we got some shots to fall from the outside and really established Shannon inside. I think that was the biggest difference, in addition to our defense being better in the second half."

ISU's 6-0 start to the 2009-10 season ranks as the second-best in school history, just behind a 10-0 opening run by the 1973-74 squad coached by Edith Godleski. The Sycamores are now 3-2 in the all-time series against Detroit Mercy.

Indiana State returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 5 at SIU Edwardsville. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.  (ET) at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Ill.