Second Half Scoring Drought Leads to Loss Against ONU

ADA, OHIO  --  The Defiance College women's basketball team could not overcome a lengthy second-half scoring drought against Ohio Northern University which led to a 71-48 loss to the Polar Bears in non-conference action in Ada.

Defiance (1-4) led at halftime, but was outscored in the second half, 47-22, to surrender the 23-point loss.  The Yellow Jackets had two players score in double figures led by sophomore forward Kelsey Tietje (Deshler/Patrick Henry) with 15 points on five-of-14 shooting (35.7 percent).  She also grabbed eight rebounds.  Freshman guard/forward Brittany Osborne (Union City, Ind./Union City) was the other player in double figures with 12 points.  In addition, sophomore guard Ashley Williams (Leipsic/Pandora/Gilboa) pulled down a game-high 11 boards.  As a team, DC shot 32.8 percent (19-of-58) from the floor and just 17.6 percent (three-of-17) from three-point range.

Both team's offenses struggled in the early minutes with the first points of the game coming at the 17:04 minute mark on a ONU (3-1) basket.  DC then rattled off six straight points that included a jumper by Osborne to give the Jackets a 6-2 lead with 15:12 left in the period.  Defiance never trailed in the half again, despite ONU battling back to even the score on several instances.  With the game tied at 8-8 with 12:07 to go, a three-pointer by DC freshman guard Whitney Schalk (Bellevue) sparked a 7-0 scoring run that was capped by a pair of free-throws by Tietje to make it a 15-8 ball game at the 8:26 mark.  The Polar Bears again rallied to tie the score, but it would be the Yellow Jackets who'd lead at the break, 26-24.

The two teams traded leads to begin the second half, but a scoring drought by DC that lasted 6:37 allowed ONU to go on a 19-0 run and jump out to a commanding 50-32 advantage with 8:12 left to play in the game.  The Bears continued to pull away and led by as many as 25 points on several occasions with the last one being a 68-43 margin with 2:14 left to play.  ONU would go on to post a 71-48 victory.

ONU shot 46.9 percent in the second half and ended up shooting 41.9 percent (26-of-52) overall in the game.  The were led in scoring by the duo of Karissa Steffas and Britt Lauck with 13 points each. 

Defiance will open Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, Dec. 8 against Manchester University in North Manchester, Ind.  The game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.