Home opener for women’s basketball starts conference slate against Manchester

DEFIANCE, Ohio — Coming off their first win of the season 10 days ago at St. Mary's College, the Defiance College women's basketball team has their long-awaited home opener on Wednesday night at the Karl H. Weaner Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The first home contest for the Yellow Jackets also ushers in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference action with Manchester visiting Defiance. 

Defiance stands at 1-2 under first-year head coach Rod Hersha, including a one-point loss at Kenyon to start the season. The Yellow Jackets are scoring 55.7 points per contest and allowing an average of 60.7. They have held their opponents to shooting under 34 percent despite being outrebounded by five per night.

Leading the way for Defiance during the first month of the year is Taylor Day at 13.0 points per game and Taylor Steinbrunner with 12.3 points per game. Both Day and Steinbrunner have topped the rebounding charts as well with 5.7 each. Steinbrunner has hit six of the team's 13 treys.

Manchester will play their sixth game of the campaign when they visit the Weaner Center, and the Spartans enter with a 3-2 record after back-to-back victories over Rockford and Kalamazoo. They posted a season-best 77 points in their most recent contest on Saturday, which was their second of the year over Kalamazoo. The Spartans shoot 38 percent from the floor and average 67 points per game, allowing 54.2. 

Manchester's top scoring options are Maddison Smith (12.2 points per game) and Allison Graber (10.0). Jessie Ringen follows that duo at 8.4 points per night and is the number two rebounder behind Smith (5.2) at 5.0 per game. Hailee Kline and Mia Shields are the top long-range shooting threats with seven makes apiece while Graber has knocked down five.

Wednesday's matchup pits the HCAC's No. 7 (Defiance) and No. 8 (Manchester) teams in the preseason coaches poll against one another.

-JACKETS-