Yellow Jackets Lose to Pioneers

LEXINGTON, KY. -- The Defiance College women's basketball team dropped a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup to Transylvania (Ky.) University, 78-55, in Lexington, Ky.

The Yellow Jackets had two scorers in double figures, led by senior guard Erica Smay (Defiance/Tinora), who scored 18 points on six-of-seven (85.7 percent) shooting from beyond the arc. The other was senior forward Kelsey Tietje (Deshler/Patrick Henry), as she finished with 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Defiance shot 39.2 percent (20-of-51) overall and 47.1 percent (eight-of-17) from beyond the arc, as the Pioneers finished the night shooting 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the floor and 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from deep. DC was also outrebounded, 34-32, and committed 22 turnovers, while Transy handed it over just 10 times.

Defiance (12-11, 9-7 HCAC) spotted the Pioneers (17-6, 11-5 HCAC) a 9-0 lead in the opening 1:13 of the contest, before junior Mekai White (Cincinnati/Winton Woods) ended the drought with a triple. Transylvania outscored Defiance, 9-6, the rest of the opening quarter to hold an 18-9 lead after the first.

After the Pioneers scored the opening bucket of the second stanza, Tietje scored the next seven points to cut the Transy lead to 20-16 at the 7:06 mark. That was halted quickly, as the Pioneers separated themselves by scoring an ensuing 11 straight points to take a 31-16 advantage with 5:04 left in the half. Transy continued to carry the momentum and led by as many as 21 points in the quarter and walked into the locker room with a 42-23 lead.

Transy opened up a 46-23 lead early in the third period before Smay knocked down back-to-back treys to cut the deficit to 46-29 at the 6:40 mark. The Pioneers grew the lead back to 55-33 before Smay hit two more triples, sandwiched between a Transylvania layup, to knock the deficit to 57-39 to end quarter number three.

Smay hit her fifth triple of the second half to begin the fourth quarter that was followed by a bucket by senior Keri Conine (Ottawa/Pandora-Gilboa) to make it a 57-44 deficit with 8:56 left.  But that would be as close as the Jackets got the rest of the way as Transylvania responded with six straight points and went on to lead by as many as 24 points on two occasions with the last one coming with 1:36 to play with a score of 78-54.  A free-throw by DC freshman Danielle Carruthers (New London) was the final point scored in the game as the Pioneers went on to the 78-55 final.

The Yellow Jackets hit the road again for their final regular-season road matchup as they head to North Manchester, Ind. to take on Manchester (Ind.) University as part of a basketball doubleheader on Wednesday, Feb. 15 with the DC men. The women's matchup is set for a 6 p.m. tip, followed by the men's contest between DC and Manchester at 8 p.m.