WESTERVILLE, Ohio - On Thursday, December 30th your Mount St. Joseph University Lions traveled to Otterbein University to compete in the Smokey Ballenger Classic. The Lions faced off against Kenyon College in the second day of the Classic defeating them by a score of 74-70. The Lions attacked early going on a 19-3 run to start the game. The offense slowed but The Mount was still in control going into halftime holding a 44-34 lead. After the break the Lions picked up right where they left off extending their lead again in the third, 64-50. In the final quarter of play the Lions lost their footing offensively but were able to hold on to the lead defeating Kenyon 74-70.
The Lions got off to a hot start Thursday afternoon going on a 19-3 run to begin play.
Maddie Haberthy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy) got the first bucket for the Lions followed by 8 consecutive points from
Chloe Jansen (Fort Thomas, Ky./Highlands). Haberthy would provide the final 3-point bucket for the Lions in the first quarter as the Lions carried a 19-8 lead into the second quarter.
To begin the 2nd quarter the Lions would struggle offensively as Kenyon began to crawl back into the game. With four and a half minutes to go in the 2nd the Lions lead was cut to just 1 point. But, the Lions would hit 4 consecutive 3-point buckets from
Anyiah Murphy (Columbus, Ohio/Columbus Africentric Secondary),
Maddie Haberthy and
Shelby Turner (Pendleton, Ky./Pendleton) to regain the lead going into halftime.
In the third quarter of play the Lions continued to grow their lead. With 1:39 remaining in the third quarter the Lions would extend their lead to 16 points thanks to a layup from the experienced
Maddie Haberthy. With just 7 seconds left in the quarter the Lions would hold their largest lead of the game of 17 points. But, Kenyon would hit a 3-point bucket as time expired to trim the Lions lead to 14.
In the 4th quarter of play the Lions offense slowed again. The Mount's lead was trimmed to just 2 points with 3:10 remaining and again was trimmed to just 1 point with 1 minute remaining. But, a pair of clutch free throws from both
Anyiah Murphy and
Chloe Jansen gave the Lions a cushion and eventually the victory.
Both
Maddie Haberthy and
Chloe Jansen lead the Lions in points with 22. Haberthy added 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 steal to her total while Jansen added a whopping 15 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block and 4 steals.
UP NEXT: The Lions are back in action on Wednesday, January 5th as The Mount welcomes the Panthers of Hanover College to the Harrington Center for a HCAC battle. Tip-off is scheduled to begin at 7:30pm. For continued coverage of this upcoming game and all other MSJ Athletics continue to follow
msjlions.com
