North Manchester, Ind. – On Saturday February 4
th, your Mount St. Joseph Women's Basketball team went on the road to take on Manchester University. Coming into the matchup, the Lions were sitting at 10-8 overall, and 9-4 in conference while riding a 5-game winning streak. The Lions would pull away in the final quarter out scoring the Spartans 24-13 and that would be enough to earn a 69-54 victory.
The first quarter was a slow start offensively for the Lions.
Madison Drummonds started the opening Lions possession off with a layup followed by a jumper from
Chloe Jansen as the Spartans jumped out to a 7-4 lead. Manchester would then go on a 7-0 run before
Carlee Daulton hit a jump shot with four minutes remaining in the period. Drummonds would score another layup off of a spin move to cut the lead to five. For the second time in the quarter, the Spartans took advantage of Lions turnovers to go on their second 7-0 run. As the quarter was coming to a close, the Lions
Shelby Turner scored with 4 seconds remaining as they trailed 20-10 heading into the second.
Entering the second quarter, defense was the key factor into the Lions battling back for the lead. On the offense of end for the Lions,
Madison Drummonds and
Carlee Daulton continue to make big shots. The period began with Daulton connecting on her first three point jump shot of the afternoon which was quickly followed by a basket by Drummonds as she was fouled and converted the three point by and trim the Spartans lead to 4. On the following Manchester possession, Daulton blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound, and assisted Drummonds for a layup. For the next 2 and a half minutes both teams for trade stops until Manchester was able to convert on a pair of free throws to grow their lead to four.
Shelby Turner would then hit the second triple of the quarter for the Lions. That play was quickly followed by a stellar defensive steal and layup for
Anyiah Murphy to give the Mount their first lead. The Mount would build their lead up to five before Manchester hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Lions a 29-27 advantage heading into the break.
To start the second half,
Anyiah Murphy and Drummonds quickly increased the Lions lead to 10 after each scored two early baskets. For the next three minutes the Lions offense would go into a dry spell as Manchester brought the lead down to six points. Murphy would then once again dominate on the offensive end for the Lions scoring the final eight points and holding off the Spartans run. During the quarter, Murphy provided the Lions with 10 points while Drummonds added 6 points of her own. Those performances in the period built the Lions lead to 45-41 at the end of the third.
In the final 10 minutes of play, the Lions pulled away with their best offensive output of the matchup. In the quarter, the Lions scored 24 points while shooting 43% from the floor and converting a very impressive 10 of 12 from the free throw line. By the 5-minute mark of the period, Murphy and Freshman
Morgan Jenkins quickly boosted the Lions lead to 13 behind their impressive shooting. With three minutes remaining, the Lions would focus on converting from the line as no more field goals were made.
Karlee Mills scored the last six points of the game all from the line as the Lions would go on to win their 6
th straight by the score of 69-54.
The Lions were led by
Anyiah Murphy would score 21 points on the afternoon while adding 8 rebounds, and 4 steals.
Madison Drummonds also was dominant on the offensive end with 19 points and 8 rebounds as well.
Karlee Mills was a force defensively as she came down with 5 rebounds and 6 steals in the game.
The Lions next game will be on Wednesday, February 8
th as they travel on the road to take on the top team in the HCAC in Transylvania University. Tip off is scheduled for 7PM
