Tietje Heads Four Yellow Jackets With All-HCAC Honors

DEFIANCE, Ohio – After a fantastic freshman season for Kelsey Tietje, the DC center was selected First-Team All-HCAC and made the HCAC All-Freshman team. Other members of the Purple and Gold who earned Heartland Conference accolades included Erica King, Hannah Harshman and Erica Smay.

Tietje (Deshler, Ohio / Patrick Henry) exploded onto the scene in her first year at Defiance. In Tietje's first collegiate contest she recorded 24 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in the Jackets season opening victory over Alma.

The freshman wasn't done however, as Tietje posted nights of 25-10 and 23-10 in her next two games at the Baldwin Wallace Tournament. Tietje's stat line for her first week of action rested with averages of 23 points, 10.3 boards and a block a night that earned the Deshler, Ohio native HCAC player of the week honors.

Over the course of the season, Tietje continued to make her mark on the Purple and Gold women's basketball program. She was named to both the Baldwin Wallace and Albion Tournament teams and then just after the New Year, the center set the HCAC and DC record for rebounds in a game with 26 against Hanover on January 4. The record-setting performance gave Tietje her second Heartland Conference Player of the Week selection of the season.

To conclude her freshman campaign Tietje led the HCAC in rebounding per game (10.2), finished third in scoring (16.1) and ended fourth in blocked shots (1.5). All marks were team highs, which also included a .498 shooting percentage on the season.

Tietje's All-HCAC selection marked the fifth-straight season that Defiance had a player earn first-team all-conference honors.

Making Honorable-Mention All-HCAC were a pair of seniors in Erica King (Wauseon, Ohio / Pettisville) and Hannah Harshman (Ohio City, Ohio / Parkway).

King concludes her Yellow Jacket career as the program's all-time leader in three-point field goal makes (225) and three-point field goal attempts (609). The Pettisville High product also finished 11th on the DC scoring list with 1,186 points over her four years with the Purple and Gold and is a record holder for triples in a game with seven.

King's other accolades while at Defiance include HCAC Freshman of the Year, D-III News All-Freshman Team, two First-Team All-Heartland Conference selections and being named HCAC Academic All-Conference twice.

For the 2013-14 season King notched per game averages of 9.9 points, 2.4 boards and 2.3 assists, while shooting 35.2 percent from behind the arc.

Harshman's final season as a Yellow Jacket was her best. The Ohio City, Ohio native recorded career marks in points per game (10.2), field-goal percentage (47.9 percent) and assists per game (2.4).

During Harshman's tenure at DC, the forward was selected to two separate all-tournament teams and made HCAC Academic All-Conference twice.

Being chosen to represent the Purple and Gold on the HCAC All-Sportsmanship Team was freshman Erica Smay (Defiance, Ohio / Tinora). Smay started 23-of-25 games for the Yellow Jackets in her first season. The guard finished the year with per game averages of 3.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists.