DC Rides Huge Second Half to Victory

DEFIANCE, OHIO – Defiance College scored 52 points in the second half on way to capturing an 83-64 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Earlham (Ind.) College.

DC (6-10, 5-4 HCAC) hit 17 three-point shots in the game.  It is the third time in four years that the Yellow Jackets have hit 14 or more three's against Earlham (5-11, 2-7 HCAC).  DC did it twice in 2011 when it hit 15 and 14 in that season.

Mekai White (Cincinnati/Winton Woods) accounted for seven of the 17 made shots from downtown, which is the most from a Yellow Jacket since Erica King did it in 2012 against Alma (Mich.).

DC started the game strong, hitting five of its first six shots.  Sophomore guard Erica Smay (Defiance/Tinora) hit the first basket at the 18:42 mark.  Then fellow sophomore guard Ashley Williams (Leipsic/Pandora-Gilboa) made back-to-back three-point shots, followed by a Megan Zachrich (Napoleon) layup to give the Yellow Jackets a 10-5 lead just three minutes into the game.  Smay hit the last field goal in DC's five consecutive made field goals with a trey at the 14:10 mark.  The Yellow Jackets then went cold from the field, only finding two free-throws from Zachrich over the next five-and-a-half minutes.  Williams stopped the drought with another made three-point field goal, her third of the half.  Earlham tried to pull away before sophomore forward Kelsey Tietje (Deshler/Patrick Henry) made a lay-in which was followed by Zachirch hitting back-to-back shots from downtown.  That short spurt tied the game up at 26-26 with five minutes left to play in the half.  Two more free-throws from Tietje and White's first made three-point shot would be the only scoring left in the first half for the Yellow Jackets as they trailed the home team 34-31 at halftime.

Zachrich scored 10 points to lead DC in that category in the first half.  Williams added another nine points with her three-point shooting in the first 20 minutes.

The trio of Smay, Williams, and Tietje got things going for DC in half number two.  The three Yellow Jackets scored the first 12 points for DC to kick off the second half.  Smay hit a three-point shot on DC's first possession to tie the game at 34.  Tietje then hit two free-throws to take a 36-34 lead, a lead in which the Yellow Jackets would never give up again.  Williams hit a jumper at the 18:15 mark which was followed by a Tietje layup set up by frshman guard Whitney Schalk (Bellevue) a little over 60 seconds later.  Smay hit the 10th, 11th, and 12th point on a shot from beyond the arc to give DC a 43-34 lead with 16 minutes remaining in the game.  The next trio of Yellow Jackets to take over the game was Zachrich, Tietje, and White.  They scorched the Earlham defense and compiled the next 23 points for DC.  Tietje led the way with three field goals and four free-throws for 10 points.  Zachrich made two field goals and two free-throws for seven points.  White hit two treys for six points.  The three Yellow Jackets outscored the entire Earlham team 23-14 in that run, making the score 66-50 with just over six minutes left to play.  After the run, Williams put in her fourth three-pointer of the night.  Then White caught fire from downtown.  In the last 4:37, White hit all four of her three-point attempts, scoring 12 of DC's last 14 points.  Freshman guard/forward Brittany Osborne (Union City, Ind./Union City) added the other two with a pair of free-throws.  White's last bucket was the final points of the game as DC took the 83-64 victory.

White led the Yellow Jackets in scoring, dropping a career-high 21 points.  Eighteen of those came in the second half.  Four other Yellow Jackets joined White in double figures.  Tietje had 18 points, followed by Zachrich with 17points.  Williams and Smay added 14 points and 11 points, respectively.

Tietje grabbed 15 rebounds to mark her 13th double-double of the season.  Zachrich and Osborne added six rebounds apiece.  Schalk did a nice job seeing the floor all night, dishing out a career-high seven assists.

The end of the game marked the halfway point of the HCAC schedule.  DC sits in a three-way tie for fifth place with a 5-4 record.  The Yellow are just a game out of second place as Bluffton, Hanover, and Franklin are also in a three-way tie for second.

DC will meet one of those second place teams, as the Yellow Jackets take to the road this weekend.  They will play Hanover (Ind.) College on Saturday (Jan. 24) with the game set to begin at 1 pm.  The men's game is to follow.