Box Score Defiance, Ohio – Upping the ante in the second half, the Transylvania women's basketball team collected a 70-50 road win against the Defiance College Yellow Jackets at the Karl H. Weaner Center on Saturday afternoon.
The win grew Transylvania's season-best winning streak to five games with the impressive performance against Defiance, who dropped to 6-7 overall, and 3-3 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic play.
The Pioneers moved to 10-3 overall, and 4-2 in conference play as they defeated Defiance for the 19th consecutive meeting.
The Pioneers relied on a balance effort from players across their roster as they took turn trading offensive heroes, seemingly on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Transylvania began the game relatively cold, but relied on early scoring from sophomore guard Celia Kline, whose seven points kept Transy within reach of Defiance as the Pioneers trailed 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Pioneers moved closer to finding their rhythm in the second quarter as sophomore guard Kristen Hayes came off the bench to make a series of plays for the Pioneers, starting with a hanging runner to tie the game at 17 midway through the second quarter, sparking a key momentum change.
Transylvania subsequently forced a backcourt steal on which sophomore guard Taylor Jackson converted a layup for a 19-17 lead. The Pios again came up with a steal near midcourt which translated into a 1-for-2 trip to the foul line for Hayes, who finished the game with nine points.
Defiance answered with a mini-run near the end of the half, but junior forward Rachel Cox hit on a runner as the first half clock expired to give the Pioneers a 29-27 lead at the half.
The third quarter belonged to Jackson and the Pios, who outscored Defiance 20 to 13 in the period. Jackson posted eight points in the quarter on 3-for-4 shooting from the field to go with three rebounds.
Cox chipped in with five points on 2-for-2 shooting from the floor in the third after struggling from the field in the first half in a big matchup with the conference's leading scorer in center Kelsey Tietje.
The Pioneers employed a more effective zone late in the game against Tietje, holding the center scoreless in the final quarter of the game while Cox stretched the offense outside, burying 2-of-4 three point attempts in the final quarter to finish with a 15-point second half.
Jackson added five more points in the fourth quarter as the Pioneers outscored Defiance 41-23 in the second half.
Transylvania's defense was superb as it held Defiance without a three-point field goal until the 2:29 mark of the third quarter, and limited the Yellow Jackets to just one point during a 5 minute, 27 second stretch of the fourth quarter. The Pioneers also minimized the impact of Tietje, holding her to six points below her per-game scoring average for the game.
The Pioneers continued its league-leading three-point sharpshooting, hitting 45 percent of their attempts from outside against Defiance, while holding Defiance to 2-for-16 shooting from beyond-the-arc to notch the 20-point margin of victory.
Transylvania concludes a string of three straight road games this Wednesday, January 11 as it visits the Franklin College Grizzlies in Franklin, Indiana. Tipoff between the Grizzlies and Pioneers is set for 7:30 p.m.
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