CINCINNATI, Ohio - On Saturday, December 2nd your Mount St. Joseph University women's basketball team welcomed the Spartans of Manchester to the Harrington Center for a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup. This HCAC battle marked the start of conference play and the Lions have not dropped a game yet. To begin the game the Lions played poise defense while attacking the basket. The Mount allowed just 16 points in the first 20 minutes to hold a 31-16 advantage heading into halftime. Following halftime, the Spartans found their footing offensively but they could not break into their deficit. After a full 40 minutes, the Lions took down the Spartans 63-43.
In the 1st quarter,
Karlee Mills wasted no time getting on the board. Mills knocked down a pair of jumpers to give the Lions a early 4-0 lead. The Spartans would quickly match their total but couldn't stop the Lions offense. A pair of buckets from Freshman
Whitney Warfel closed out the scoring for the Lions in quarter 1 as they held a 12-7 lead.
In the 2nd quarter of play, the Lions showcased their scoring. To begin the quarter the Lions went on a 12-3 run including buckets from Mills,
Ellie Oldendick,
Madison Drummonds and
Morgan Jenkins. Mills sent the Lions happily into the locker room knocking down a jumper and a free throw to close out the first half. The Lions were dominant offensively in the quarter while also holding the Spartans to just 8 points. With 20 minutes left to play, the Lions held a commanding 31-16 lead.
In the 3rd quarter of play the Spartans bit into the Lions lead. To begin the quarter, Manchester went on a 14-5 run to trim the deficit to single digits. But, with 2:50 left to play in the 3rd, the Lions began to build their lead once again. A 3-pointer from Mills followed by an and-one bucket from Jenkins got the Lions back on track. To close out the quarter,
Amanda Lovejoy sparked the Lions bench with a 3-pointer giving The Mount a 45-34 lead heading into the final quarter.
To begin the final quarter, Lovejoy picked up where she left off. The guard scored a layup to open the scoring for the quarter followed by another layup from Drummonds. The Spartans would answer but not quick enough as the Lions built their lead all the way up to 25 with a 3-pointer from
Elizabeth McCoy. The Spartans knocked down 1 more bucket and a pair of free throws but were still out of reaching distance of the Lions. As the final buzzer sounded, the Lions remained unbeaten taking down HCAC foe Manchester.
Offensively, the Lions were led by Sophomore
Karlee Mills. Mills led the team in points with 14 with also tallying 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Mills was also a force on the defensive end swiping 5 steals. Also great defensively was
Chloe Jansen. Jansen finished with 9 points and 2 rebounds but also snagged 5 steals.
Morgan Jenkins was all over the court in the victory. Jenkins finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Jenkins also grabbed a steal while blocking a team-high 3 shots. Finally,
Madison Drummonds had an efficient game in the victory. Drummonds scored 8 points shooting 4-6 from the floor while also grabbing a team-high 7 rebounds.
UP NEXT: Your Mount St. Joseph Lions are back in action on Saturday, December 9th when the Lions travel to Terre Haute, Ind. to take on the Fightin' Engineers of Rose-Hulman. Tip-off is scheduled for 1pm.
