Women's Basketball Dominates MSJ to Advance in the HCAC Tournament

CINCINNATI, OHIO - The Defiance College women's basketball team shot lights out on Tuesday evening in the opening round of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament to dominate the no. four seed Mount St. Joseph Lions en route to the convincing 84-47 victory. 

As a team, Defiance shot an impressive 33-for-55 (60 percent) from the floor, including 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) from behind the arc. Junior Shelby Stamm (Bellevue)paced the way connecting for six three-pointers for a game-high 22 points. Sophomore Taylor Haines (Stryker) came off the bench for a career-high 12 points, shooting 5-for-6 from the floor.

The Purple and Gold dominated the first half as Haines made her presence know scoring six straight points over a minute span to give DC the 11-3 advantage. Defiance would push the lead to double digits with 2:51 to play in the first period as sophomore Kalyn Pickens (Fort Wayne, Ind./R. Nelson Snyder) hit a jumper to give DC the 15-5 lead. Senior Sam Ervin (Bloomdlae/Elmwood) closed out the first period netting back-to-back layups to put DC on top 19-7.

The Yellow Jackets carried the momentum into the second period as senior Lauren Rogers (Munger, Mich.) sank a deep ball that extended the advantage to 24-8. MSJ looked to chip away at the lead as they staged a small run before Ervin deemed clutch in the paint halting the charging Lions with 3:18 till the break, 30-15. Stamm would close out the half on a high note as she hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Defiance the 40-18 halftime lead. 

The hot streak continued for much of the second half as freshman Taylor Day (West Mansfield/North Union) made her way into the scores column hitting back-to-back scores putting DC on top 45-23. Mount tried to get something going late as they put together a short run that cut the deficit to 67-42 before Stamm put her stamp on the contest with her sixth three-pointer of the night to claim the opening round victory 84-47.

"It was a grat team effort we did a great job of sharing the ball," stated head coach Allan King, Jr.  "It was our most complete game of the season with big contributions from everyone. Hanies got us started with some big buckets then did a great job setting others up the rest of the night. Shleby Stamm was on fire form three and Ervin attacked the basket all night but all of it started on the defensive end with the focus and effort."

With the win, the Yellow Jackets move on to play no. one seed Transylvania on Friday, February 22 at 6:00 p.m.