Yellow Jackets End Season with Tough Loss

FRANKLIN, Ind. – Defiance College ended its season with a loss at Franklin (Ind.) College by a score of 61-54 in Franklin, Ind.  With the loss to Franklin (14-10, 12-6 HCAC), the Yellow Jackets (9-16, 8-10 HCAC) were officially put out of contention for a berth into the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.

DC was the hot team coming out of the gates, building a 14-7 lead 10 minutes into the first half.  Freshman guard Whitney Schalk (Bellevue) hit the first bucket for the Yellow Jackets in the game, scoring on a three-point shot.  Sophomore forward Kelsey Tietje (Deshler/Patrick Henry) followed that up with a layup to take the early 5-4 lead.  Freshman guard Mekai White (Cincinnati/Winton Woods) and sophomore guard Ashley Williams (Leipsic/Pandora-Gilboa) both cashed in on a shot from downtown and Tietje added three free-throws for DC to take the 14-7 lead at the 10:08 mark.  Tietje went on to score the next five points for the Yellow Jackets, making three more free-throws and adding another jumper to give the Yellow Jackets the 19-11 lead with 6:26 remaining in the first half.  Franklin battled back to tie things up at 19 when senior guard/forward Megan Zachrich (Napoleon) went on a 4-0 run on her own.  She first split a pair from the charity stripe then the next trip down the court completed a three-point play the old fashion way to give DC the 23-21 lead with 75 seconds remaining.  Schalk added another jumper to end the scoring for the Yellow Jackets as DC held its last lead of the game with 34 seconds left in the half, 25-23.  Franklin added two free-throws just before the halftime buzzer to tie things up and the teams went into intermission tied at 25-25.

For the second straight game, Tietje picked up a double-double in the first half.  She scored 10 points while gathering 12 rebounds.  Schalk and Zachrich added five points and four points, respectively.

Except for the last five seconds, neither team led by more than two possessions during the second half.  The final 20 minutes featured five ties between the two teams. Franklin got out to the early lead in the first six minutes, outscoring DC, 8-2.  Tietje put in the only points for DC, both coming from the free-throw line.  Williams and Zachrich then hit back-to-back triples to tie things up at 33.  Sophomore forward Keri Conine (Ottawa/Pandora-Gilboa) kept DC close with four straight points of her own.  A layup from Tietje and two shots from downtown from Zachrich tied things up again, this time at 45-45 with 6:36 left to play.  Conine made another layup and Tietje hit four free-throws to keep pace with the home team.  Sophomore guard Erica Smay (Defiance/Tinora) split a pair from the charity stripe to tie things at 52-52.  Forty seconds later, Tietje hit two more free-throws to tie things up at 54-54 with just over two minutes remaining in the game.  Tietje's free-throws were the last points that DC would score, however, as Franklin made its free-throws down the stretch to win 61-54.

Tietje picked up her 20th double-double of the season, finishing with 20 points and season-high 19 boards.  Zachrich also got into double-figures, finishing with 13 points.  Schalk finished with five points, four rebounds, and a team-high five assists.

The Yellow Jackets will lose Megan Zachrich next year due to graduation.  The senior had one of her best seasons statistically, including a career-high in points per game averaging 11.4 per contest.