TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State women's basketball fell to visiting Marshall in their home opener in front of 1,232 fans despite an early fourth-quarter offensive surge, 72-60.
 
The Sycamores fell to 2-6 on the year while the Thundering Herd moved to 5-3.
 
From a statistical standpoint, the Trees and Herd were evenly matched in most aspects of the game. Both teams ended with 39 boards and 12 assists, with Del'Janae Wililams leading the ISU effort in both, pulling down nine rebounds and finishing with three assists. Indiana State and Marshall also both ended with three rejections.
 
Defensively, the blue and white were in the passing lanes, recording eight steals and forcing the Herd into 13 turnovers. Again, Williams led the way with four steals.
 
The major difference in favor of the Thundering Herd was from the field, as Marshall shot 22-51 for the game (43.1%) to the Sycamores' 21-58 (36.2%). Four Trees passed the 10-point threshold, led by Jasmine Elder who recorded 14 points. Marie Hunter, who got hot in the fourth, finished with 13 and Jamyra McChristine and Williams both ended with 10.
 
For much of the first 20 minutes, Marshall and ISU exchanged punches. The Sycamores found themselves up early in the first, thanks to an Elder triple as the shot clock expired, giving ISU the lead, 16-12 with 1:19 to go in the opening quarter. Marshall would answer back, however, closing the gap to 19-17 at the first break.
 
The Herd came out firing on all cylinders to start the second quarter, quickly grabbing a three-point lead with 7:35 to go thanks to a layup by Savannah Wheeler. Marshall would push their lead to 29-23, but a quick 6-0 by ISU, capped off by a Hunter lay-in, would tie the game at 29. The Sycamores trailed 33-29 heading into halftime.
 
Both teams struggled to find their offensive rhythms coming out of halftime. The Marshall lead hovered around four for a majority of the period, until a Taylor Pearson free throw gave them a 48-43 advantage leading into the final 10 minutes. As a team, the Thundering Herd shot 6-17 from the field, but just 3-12 from the line in the third while the Trees finished just 3-15 on the court and 7-11 from the charity stripe.
 
Marshall wasted no time pushing their lead to nine at the start of the final frame, securing a nine-point lead with 8:28 to go, 54-45, off of a fast break jumper. Hunter pulled the Sycamores to within three with a nice elbow jumper right before the media timeout. From there, Hunter took over. The junior knocked down a tough runner in the lane and two possessions later gave the Trees the lead, 57-56, with 4:27 to go with another jumper in the paint. Despite earning nine of her 13 points in the final period, the Herd ended the game on a 16-3 run to lock-up a 72-60 victory.
 
Wheeler led the Thundering Herd on Tuesday night, finishing with 16 points, three rebounds and two assists.
 
Indiana State is back in action this Saturday, Dec. 7, when they travel to Murray, Ky., for a 6 p.m. ET matchup with the Racers of Murray State.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Women's Basketball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.