Women’s basketball season ends with conference loss at Franklin

FRANKLIN, Ind. – On the road in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Saturday afternoon, the Defiance College women's basketball squad had its 2019-20 season come to an end with an 84-50 loss to the Franklin College Grizzlies at the Spurlock Center.

Defiance concludes the season with a 7-18 overall record, including 6-12 in the HCAC (tied for seventh place). Franklin, which moves to 16-8 overall and finishes 12-6 in conference play (third), hosts an HCAC Tournament contest on Tuesday as the No. 3 seed.

Following the game, DC second-year head coach Allan King Jr. acknowledged his two seniors, who played in the final contests of their Defiance careers.

"I'm proud of Liz Martin (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) and Danielle Carruthers (New London, Ohio/New London), who were playing in their last game," King said. "They did everything they could. Unfortunately, Dani, because of injury, hasn't been able to play much over the last few weeks. She kind of toughed it out and came in for a few minutes at the end, and it was nice to see her make a nice move and get a bucket. Liz Martin started and played today and really got us going early on with a key bucket.

"We had a good first half but just weren't able to maintain that."

In the opening quarter, the Yellow Jackets never trailed and had a pair of nine-point leads. After holding an 18-11 advantage after one period, Defiance fell behind, 36-32, at halftime. DC pulled to within one point, 38-37, early in the second half but from there the Grizzlies went on a 22-5 run to lead, 62-44, after three quarters. FC kept things rolling in the final period, scoring eight consecutive points at the start and outscoring the Yellow Jackets, 22-6.

Defiance attempted 55 field goals, making 18 (32.7 percent), compared to Franklin's 31-of-74 (41.9) effort. At the free throw line, DC was 11 of 20 (55.0 percent) while the Grizzlies connected on 20 of 31 (64.5). The hosts outrebounded the Jackets, who committed 20 turnovers, by a whopping 60-30 margin, including 24-5 on the offensive end. That led to 28 second-chance points for FC while the guests had none.

"Unfortunately, rebounding is what ultimately did us in," King said. "Rebounds and turnovers, we lost both of those battles."

Freshman Taylor Steinbrunner (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) tallied 11 points and five rebounds for Defiance while Lexie Sparks (Trenton, Ohio/Kings), another freshman, came off the bench to score nine points. Martin contributed a career- and game-high four steals.

"I'm proud of our team and I'm looking forward to the bright future our program has," King said.