20-2 run keys Lady Jacket win at Hanover
Now in a three-way tie for first-place

HANOVER, Ind.—The DC Lady Jackets downed the Hanover College Panthers on Saturday afternoon, 57-42, at Collier Arena in Hanover, Indiana.

Meghann Savard led Defiance with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and eight rebounds. Kayla Mengerink added 12 points, while Kelly VanderHorst chipped in 10 points and had nine rebounds. Meta Gerding had 10 rebounds for DC, to go along with six points.

The Jacket defense held the Panthers to 26% shooting from the floor and 28% shooting from three-point range. Forcing 18 turnover, the Lady Jackets also capitalized with 17 points-off-turnovers.

In a slow first half, Defiance took the first substantial lead of the game when VanderHorst connected on a lay-in off a Sarah Bird assist with 13:20 left in the first period to make the score 10-4. Hanover came back to take the lead at 13-12 five minutes later on a lay up by Laura Little, who eclipsed the 1,000 career point mark with her team-high 14 points.

Savard hit a jumper with 2:20 remaining in the half to break a 18-18 tie and send the Lady Jackets into the break up by two.

The two teams went back-and-forth to begin the second half with the Lady Jackets holding onto a three point lead, 27-24 at the 12-minute mark. The deciding stretch of the game came over the next six-and-a-half minutes as DC went on a 20-2 run spurred by Bird, who scored all of her six points in that stretch.

Savard had an old-fashioned three-point play, a pair of free throws and a lay up in the last four minutes to put the game out of reach.

The Lady Jackets are now 9-7 on the year and 5-1 in the HCAC, in a three-way tie for first place. DC will next travel to Bluffton College on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off with the Beavers.