Defiance cruises to fourth straight win on Monday

DEFIANCE, Ohio - Defiance College scored a season-high 87 points and handled a winless Kalamazoo program, 87-42, in non-conference women's basketball action at the Weaner Center on Monday night.

The Yellow Jackets (5-5, 0-3 HCAC) finished the game shooting 50 percent and turned 20 turnovers by the Hornets (0-11, 0-3 MIAA) into 28 points. The victory is the fourth in just six days for DC's women to get the squad back to .500 before an 11-day layoff.

Lexie Sparks led the 16-player scoring brigade with a 14-point performance, her best of the season. McKenzie Cooper followed here with nine points and five rebounds and Cait Good knocked down three triples for her nine-point effort. Nicole Sims dished out five assists and scored five points. Addy Allen (six points), Taylor Bates (four points) and Aliza Clark (two points) all scored their first collegiate points during a 22-point fourth quarter by DC.

In the first quarter, Kalamazoo held a 9-7 lead before Defiance made their first substitutions of the contest. The grouping of Day, Steinbrunner, Friday, Criblez and Mowen took off on a 7-2 run and sparked a 16-7 finish to the first quarter.

Defiance opened up a 20-point in the second quarter lead thanks to a 15-point run following a Kalamazoo layup to start the period. After an Ali Mowen 3-pointer, Sparks hit three straight mid-range jumpers followed by a timeout-triggering 3-ball by Sims. Cooper knocked down a triple out of the stoppage and Sparks splashed home another jump shot to swell DC's lead up to 38-18 with 4:34 left before half.

Defiance limited Kalamazoo to 28 percent shooting in the first half while the Yellow Jackets hit 49 percent of their attempts. The Hornets did hit five 3-pointers to account for 15 of their 25 first-half markers. The Yellow Jackets also capitalized on 13 Hornet turnovers by converting them into 18 points.

Leading 45-25 at the break, the second half behaved much like the first. Defiance won the scoring margin 42-17, and Kalamazoo was limited to just four made field goals during the final 20 minutes. As a team, the Hornets finished with a 23 percent shooting percentage and were limited to just three points in the fourth quarter.

Kalamazoo's top scorer was junior Sara English with 15 thanks to four 3-pointers. Kaelyn Arlington added 10 more and pulled in nine rebounds to lead all players for the game.

The Yellow Jackets are off until New Year's Eve when they host Mount St. Joseph as DC's HCAC schedule resumes. Tipoff at the Weaner Center is at 2 p.m. on December 31.

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