Bird Nets 19 as Lady Jackets Edge Mount St. Joseph

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Sarah Bird’s 19-point outburst led six Yellow Jackets with at least eight points, as Defiance picked up a 72-63 win over Mount St. Joseph on Saturday. The win was DC’s sixth home victory of the season.

Bird had the hot hand out of the gates, hitting a pair of treys in the opening minutes, which allowed Defiance to withstand an early surge from MSJ and pull to within 10-8 at the 15:03 mark.

The rest of the Yellow Jackets then begin to get on track as a free throw from Kim Zura, a Mandy White hoop and consecutive buckets from Amber Bailey capped a 12-1 DC spurt and lifted it to a 17-11 lead.

The Mount battled back to knot the score at 24-24 with just under three minutes remaining in the half, before Bird scored the final five points to send Defiance to the intermission with a 29-24 advantage.

The second period started the way the first had ended, with Bird hitting from the field for her seventh-straight point. White would push the spread to 33-24 with a pair of free throws and the Jackets were on their way.

The lead swelled to 54-42 over the next 10 minutes and Defiance held off a late charge by the Lions with clutch shooting from the charity stripe.

Bird ended the game with 19 points and five rebounds, while White just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine boards. Bailey had yet another strong showing in the paint, flirting with a triple-double with eight points, nine boards, seven blocks and a career-high five steals and Tasha Stucke, Holly Stein and Zura all added eight of their own.

Defiance (7-11, 3-8 HCAC) will host Taylor-Fort Wayne on Wednesday at 7:30 in a non-conference contest.