Yellow Jackets Win On the Road

NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. – Freshman Sam Ervin (Bloomdale/Elmwood) and junior Kelsey Tietje combine for 51 points in Defiance College's women's basketball win against Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Manchester (Ind.) University, 66-51.

Tietje led the Yellow Jacket offense with a game-high 31 points (11-of-18 shooting) and grabbed a game-high 15 boards to record her 15th double-double of the season. Ervin scored 20 points (seven-of-10 shooting) and grabbed seven rebounds.

Defiance (7-17, 6-11 HCAC) found themselves trailing Manchester (6-18, 4-13 HCAC) early in the first quarter. The Yellow Jackets tied the score up three times midway through the period before a 9-4 scoring run from the Spartans put them ahead, 19-14, at the 2:17 minute mark. A layup form freshman Abby Sarabia (Toledo/Whitmer) on the next possession sparked a 5-2 mini run for DC to end the period and closed the gap to 22-19 after the first 10 minutes of play.

The Spartans began the second with a 10-4 run to take almost five minutes off the clock and widen the lead to nine points, 32-23. Defiance answered with their own 7-0 run to come to within two points, 32-30, with 4:11 left on the clock. Manchester then outscored DC, 7-6, in the final four minutes to take a three-point lead into the locker rooms, 39-36.

The teams started the third quarter alternating baskets before Tietje scored six points in a row to give the Yellow Jackets their first lead of the game, 44-41 with 6:30 on the clock. The Spartans scored twice themselves and took the lead back once more, before Ervin scored the final four points of the quarter to keep the seesaw battle going and gave the Jackets the lead, 48-45.

Early in the fourth, the teams traded buckets before a basket from Tietje sparked an 8-3 run that lasted late into the fourth quarter and extended the Yellow Jacket lead to nine points, 58-49. In the final minutes of the game, Defiance went eight-for-eight from the free-throw line to outscore the Spartans 8-2 and finalize the victory in favor of the visiting team, 66-51.

The Yellow Jackets will finish the 2015-16 regular-season schedule on the road at Rose-Hulman (Ind.) Institute of Technology in HCAC play on Saturday, Feb. 20. The game will be part of a basketball doubleheader with the Yellow Jacket men's team.  The women will tip-off against the Fightin' Engineers at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3 p.m. in Terre Haute, Ind.