Yellow Jackets Fall to the Lions

CINCINNATI, OHIO – The Defiance College women's basketball team traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to compete against Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent Mount St. Joseph University and fell to the Lions by a score of 76-59.

Junior Kelsey Tietje (Deshler/Patrick Henry) led the Yellow Jacket offense with a game-high 27 points (11-of-14 shooting) and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to record her ninth double-double of the season. Freshman Sam Ervin (Bloomdale/Elmwood) was the only other Yellow Jacket in double figures with 10 points (four-of-nine shooting).

Mount St. Joseph (5-12, 4-6 HCAC) began the game with an early 4-0 lead over Defiance (3-14, 2-8 HCAC). Ervin put the first points on the board for the Yellow Jackets with a free-throw at the 8:54 minute mark, 4-1. A few minutes later, Tietje scored two more free-throws to bring the Yellow Jackets within one point, 4-3. The Lions went on a 6-0 run before sophomore Brittany Osborne (Union City, Ind. /Union City) made a layup with 6:19 left to play making the score 10-5. Defiance tried to chip away at the deficit and came within one point, 15-14 with 1:54 left to play. That was as close as the Yellow Jackets got before the quarter ended and trailed, 23-16, after the first 15 minutes.

Defiance began the second quarter with a 6-0 run of their own that included buckets from Tietje and Ervin to close the gap to 23-22 with 8:26 on the clock. The Lions answered back with six straight points before free-throws from Tietje stopped the momentum. See-saw action wound down the clock and the Yellow Jackets found themselves trailing 36-31 at the half.

Ervin began the third quarter with a jumper and on the next DC possession, Tietje made a layup to bring the score to 36-35 with 9:24 to play in the period. The Lions began to pull away until a late three-pointer from sophomore Mekai White (Cincinnati/Winton Woods) brought the score to 51-41 with 3:53 on the clock. The Lions used the last couple of minutes to outscore the Yellow Jackets 15-4 en route to extending their lead to a commanding, 66-45.

In the fourth, the Yellow Jackets looked to climb out of the deficit that the Lions built and started the quarter with a layup from Tietje. The Jackets rallied to score back-to-back shots to make the score 68-51 at the 7:04 minute mark. The Lions scored the next four points to add to their lead before freshman Abby Sarabia (Toledo/Whitmer) connected on a free-throw with just over four minutes to play. The final points of the game came on a White triple with 1:41 on the clock that made the score, 76-59. Both teams were held scoreless the rest of the gameto finalize the score in favor of the Lions, 76-59.

The Yellow Jackets will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 27 when they travel to Anderson, Ind. to face HCAC opponent Anderson (Ind.) University. The game is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.