Yellow Jackets win by double digits at Earlham

RICHMOND, Ind. – The Defiance Yellow Jackets stifled the Earlham Quakers, 71-58, in the program's last road contest of the season and snapped a three-game skid at the Druley Performance Gym on Tuesday.

Yellow Jackets (8-16, 5-12 HCAC) cleaned the glass early and often and outrebounded the  Quakers (2-20, 3-14 HCAC) 27-17 during the first half while building a 37-26 lead. Defiance shot 41 percent on the night, secured 16 more rebounds and turned the ball over two fewer times while leading for all but 15 seconds when it was 6-5 Earlham in the first quarter.

Defiance never looked back after a Taylor Steinbrunner layup at the 6:18 mark in the first broke up a string of consecutive buckets by the Quakers. Steinbrunner accounted for 10 of the Jackets' first 16 points and helped drive an 11-4 run.

Earlham trimmed the advantage down to one point, 23-22, over the first three minutes of the second quarter. Lexie Sparks broke up Earlham's 9-2 start to the quarter with a made 2-point jumper followed by a Quaker turnover and Steinbrunner jumper. Sparks hit another shot after a swipe from Steinbrunner on Earlham's following possession to push the advantage back out to seven points. The two squads mustered just three makes over the final four and a half minutes of the first half, all by Defiance from Lauren Criblez, Steinbrunner and Taylor Day.

Kylie Brinkman and Kalista Friday hit triples around a pair of mid-range jumpers by McKenzie Cooper during a 19-14 third quarter. Cait Good knocked down one of her two outside makes for the game early in the fourth quarter to extend Defiance's margin to 19. A two-minute scoring drought was ended at the 6:53 mark of the fourth when Cooper split a pair of free throws to push the Jackets' lead to a game-high 20 points, 62-42.

Earlham outscored Defiance 18-15 in the fourth quarter to trim the final spread to 13 points.

Steinbrunner led DC with 16 points and held on to seven boards while Sparks nearly missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Earlham was led on 13 points apiece by Neely Trenshaw and Alexis Gibson while reigning HCAC Player of the Week Jay Bright was held to 10 points but handed out nine assists to narrowly miss a double-double.

Defiance wraps up the season on Friday night with a men's and women's Senior Night doubleheader against Bluffton. Tipoff of the women's game is scheduled for 6 p.m. followed by the men's game at 8 p.m.

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