Defiance, Ohio – On Wednesday January 26
th the Mount St. Joseph University Women's Basketball program went on the road to battle the Defiance Yellow Jackets. This was the second meeting on the year for the two teams as the Lions fell just short earlier in the season. The Lions would enter the game with a (3-4) conference record, and come up short after a late push by a final score of 70-59.
Carlee Daulton (Ripley, Ohio / Ripley Union Lewis Huntington) would get the Lions going early as she would knock down a layup opening possession followed by a three-point shot to give the lions an early 5-2 lead. The Mount would continue their hot start by going on a 6-0 run to build their lead to 11-5. For the remainder of the quarter, the Lions hot shooting would cool off as they took a one-point lead into the second period.
The Second period of play was back and forth between these two evenly matched teams. Defiance would start the period with three straight possessions of knocking down the three-point jump shot to pull ahead of the Lions by their biggest lead to that point of 7. Junior Guard
Chloe Jansen (Fort Thomas, KY. / Highlands) would then start to get hot for the Lions as she would hit an elbow jumper then connect on a three pointer to pull the lions within one. Jansen would finish the quarter by knocking down another three-pointer to give her 8 points in the quarter and the Lions would trail by 3 going into the locker rooms at halftime.
The Lions offense struggled to start the second half of play as they didn't find a score until there was 7 minutes to play in the third. The Lions would find themselves down by 11 at this point after the score and needed a run.
Anyiah Murphy (Columbus, Ohio / Columbus Africentric Secondary) would get a steal and a layup at the other end. By the Media Timeout, the Lions trailed by 10. Defiance would grow the lead to 18 points by hitting back-to-back three-point shots and a couple free throws.
Ellie Oldendick (Gallatin, Ky. / Gallatin) would put an end to the run with a three of her own followed by a Jansen layup as the horn sounded to end the third.
In the final period of play, The Lions offense would come alive scoring 22 points and shooting 53% from the floor. With those numbers they would outscore the Yellow Jackets 22-19 in the period. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be enough as Defiance would hit timely shots to hold the Lions off from getting any closer than 9 points. The fourth period was one to remember for
Chloe Jansen, she would finish the quarter shooting 7-11 for 17 points and filling up the stat sheet with a rebound, assist, and a steal.
Despite the tough loss, the Lions would have solid performances from Jansen and Murphy. Jansen led the team in scoring with 33 points on 60% shooting and would add 3 rebounds, 2 Assists, and 2 Steals. Murphy would add 8 points, 5 rebounds, and a career high of 7 steals on the defensive end.
The Lions will continue their season on January 29 at home as they will take on Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for another Heartland Conference matchup. Tip-off will begin at 2PM For continued coverage of this upcoming game and all other MSJ Athletics continue to follow
msjlions.com
