Box Score
Visiting Earlham College parlayed a strong outside shooting attack in the first half into a five-point lead at the intermission, and rode that accuracy again in the second half, building a large margin and recording a 92-64 win against the Mount. The Lions, 1-12 overall, 1-5 in the HCAC, will return to action on Jan. 5 when they play at Hanover College.
The Lions led only once in the first half, at the 18:17 mark as the Quakers took control of the game early with a balanced scoring attack leading to lay-ups, long range shots and successful free throws. Earlham pushed their lead to 13 with 9:33 left in the first half, only to see the Mount fight back, mainly behind the scoring of Tara Dennis (Batavia, OH/Williamsburg). The Lions got two free throws from Heidi McManus (Bethel, OH/Williamsburg) with 21 seconds to play in the first half to cut the Mount deficit to 42-37. The Mount out-shot Earlham from the floor in the first half, 50 to 40 percent, but the Quakers made five-of-eight from behind the three-point arc while the Lions were zero-for-one from long range. The Mount also had 13 turnovers in the first half, to nine miscues by Earlham.
Brooke Mosler (Maysville, KY/St. Patrick's) hit a three-point shot for the game's first points of the second half, to make the score 42-40 Earlham, but the Lions could get no closer. The Quakers would build their lead to double-digits, 52-42 with 15:51 and and led 71-50 with 8:53 remaining in the game. The Quakers made 67 percent from the field in the second half, hitting on 18-of-27 shots, including four-of-six from three-point range. The Mount went 10-for-22 from the field (46 percent) and was six-for-13 from the free throw line in the final 20 minutes of action.
Dennis led the Lions with 20 points and seven rebounds while teammate Mea' Williams (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) also had seven rebounds. Chelsea Castleberry (Hebron, KY/Conner) added 13 points while Bristyl Webb (Oxford, OH/Talawanda) had eight points and six steals.
