Women's Hoops Drops 54-51 Contest to HCAC-Leading Rose-Hulman

Rose-Hulman at Defiance Box Score

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance limped to a 21-percent shooting performance in the opening half but nearly overcame the off night, pushing the conference-leading Engineers to the final possession before falling, 54-51.

The Lady Jackets missed 22 of their first 25 shots to start the game but managed to stay within striking distance at 22-14 thanks to a stingy defense which forced Rose-Hulman into 12 first-half turnovers.

DC finally found its shooting touch in the final two minutes of the half, sinking three of its last four attempts from the floor to close the first session on a 6-0 spurt and draw within 22-20.

The Lady Jacket rally straddled the intermission and stretched to 11-2 on a layup from Mandy White. The bucket gave Defiance a 25-24 lead with 18:11 to play, but that would end up being DC’s final lead of the night as R-H’s Suzy Carlson single-handedly took control of the game.

Carlson ignited a 7-0 Engineer run with five-straight points and an assist to grab a 31-25 edge for Rose-Hulman. A three and a free throw from Carlson pushed the spread to 37-26 and capped a 13-1 Rose rally.

The Jackets withstood the surge and battled back behind the strong efforts of Mandy White in the paint. A three-point play from White cut the R-H lead to 44-40 and a layup and put back from the standout freshman answered a Carlson three and brought DC within a single score at 50-48 with 1:55 to play.

A pair of Kayla Mengerink free throws narrowed the gap to a single point at 52-51 with 42 ticks showing on the clock, but Carlson again provided the answer with two of her own from the charity stripe to set up the game’s final possession.

Defiance took the ball with 28 seconds left in the game and trailing by three. After taking a 30-second timeout to draw up a final play, DC drained the clock before seeing its final shot come up short as time expired.

DC was led by 15 points and 13 rebounds from White, while Mengerink posted a team high with 17 points and added four assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Carlson led all scorers with 27 points and scored 22 of those in the final 20 minutes of the game. Katie Tharp added eight points and five rebounds for the Engineers.

Defiance (9-5, 2-3 HCAC) will host MSJ on Saturday at 3:00 pm.