WBB Preview: Yellow Jackets hit the road looking to end slide

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College women's basketball team sets their sights on the Manchester Spartans for a Wednesday night battle in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Tipoff at Wtauffer-Wolfe Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The Yellow Jackets went 0-8 in January and now stand 6-13 overall and 3-10 in the HCAC. Defiance played hard against Hanover, the second-place team in the league, at home on Saturday and trailed by one as late as 3:18 remaining before the Panthers scored the last 11 points of the game. 

The Spartans enter with an 8-10 mark and 6-7 conference record after dropping five of their last seven games. The last time out for Manchester, the Spartans earned a one-point victory at home against Franklin with a jumper made by Abi Rosenkrans with 1:36 to go in the game as the defenses grinded out the rest of regulation. The win is a big one for Manchester as they fight for a spot in the HCAC Tournament and pulled within one game behind the Grizzlies and Bluffton for the fifth and sixth seeds.

The first meeting of the year between DC and Manchester was their first conference game for each team back in November. Playing at the Weaner Center on November 30, the Yellow Jackets played the Spartans tough and were tied early in the fourth quarter. However, Manchester pulled away with an 11-2 run.

Defiance and Manchester are both underwater when it comes to their scoring averages. Defiance gives up 62.1 per game while scoring 59.3 while the Spartans score 61.8 per game and allow 64.3. The Yellow Jackets rank fourth in overall shooting percentage at 37.6 percent and lead the HCAC in free throw percentage at 71.9 percent. The Spartans are second-worst in shooting percentage in the conference at 36 percent. 

Individually, Taylor Day leads Defiance in scoring and rebounding at 10.5 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per contest. In her last five games, Day is posting 15.8 points per game aided by a career-high 29 points at Franklin on January 21. Freshman Kalista Friday is fourth on the team with 7.8 points per game and has started five of the team's last six games while adding 9.2 points per contest during that stretch. For Manchester, the team's leading scorer is Hailee Kline with 8.0 points per contest closely followed by Maddi Smith at 7.9 per game. Smith is the team's top rebounder at 4.7 per game.

Defiance leads the all-time series against Manchester, 32-28.

Live stats and video from Manchester are available to follow Wednesday's contest.

-JACKETS-