MSJ hands DC lopsided loss in conference action

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance Yellow Jackets shot a season-low 20 percent from the field while the Mount St. Joseph Lions cruised to an 88-27 victory at the Karl H. Weaner Center on Thursday afternoon.

The decision dropped DC women's basketball team to 0-10 while the Lions improved to 9-2 and 3-1 in the HCAC. The contest for Defiance completed a three-game stretch to start conference play against the top three schools in the HCAC's preseason coaches poll in Transylvania, Hanover and MSJ. It was also the first regular-season home game in over a month and the first home affair of the conference slate.

TURNING POINT

The Lions held an 11-3 lead entering the final minute of the first quarter and opened shooting 4-for-7 despite nine turnovers to start the game. Over the last minute of the quarter, Mount St. Joseph cleaned the boards off three Defiance misses and turned those rebounds into layups. MSJ's sophomore guard Morgan Jenkins snagged all three rebounds and found freshman forward Hailey Guingrich up the court at the 53, 13, and one-second marks to close the first stanza with a 17-3 lead.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Lions scored on the game's first possession with a Madison Drummonds layup and held the lead for the remainder of the contest. MSJ also used a sizable scoring in the second and third quarters to expand their hefty lead. In the second quarter, the Lions tallied the last 15 points of the first half after Teagan Hunt hit a trey for Defiance with 6:27 left in the second period. That run carried over into the third by scoring the first four points of the third to increase the DC drought over a 19-0 run. Addy Allen ended the run with a Yellow Jackets score on a lay-in with 8:42 left in the third. The Mount kept the Jackets in single digits during all four quarters and their lead went over 60 points with 1:57 left in the game.

Mount St. Joseph dominated in nearly every facet of the game even though they turned the ball over 18 times. MSJ secured 63 rebounds compared to DC's 24, which equaled the offensive rebounds made by the Lions. Both teams made three 3-pointers apiece but MSJ finished with a 53 percent mark from the floor and went 11-for-22 from the free throw line. Defiance made 2-of-9 attempts at the stripe. While turnovers were relatively even (22 by Defiance and 18 for MSJ), the Lions scored 25 off turnovers and had another 20 markers thanks to second chance opportunities.

BRINGING THE STING

• Zadria King was Defiance's leading scorer for the third time with her sixth game in double figures, pacing the Yellow Jackets with 10 points. She was also the top rebounder for Defiance with five boards.
• Taylor Bates followed King with an eight-point, three-rebound performance that featured one of the team's three triples.
• Teagan Hunt grabbed a season-best four rebounds, which was also a career-best in that category.
• Mount St. Joseph had two players record double-doubles while five scored double figures. Madison Drummonds scored 13 points and rebounded 14 misses, and Chloe Jansen secured 13 rebounds to complement 11 points. 
• Two players narrowly missed double-doubles as Morgan Jenkins scored 10 and snagged nine boards while Hailey Guingrich recorded eight rebounds and led the team with 16 points. Jenkins also chipped in with six assists.

UP NEXT

Defiance travels to Earlham on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tipoff against the Quakers in the last contest of the 2023 calendar year.

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