Big First Half Helps Lift DC Past Rose-Hulman

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance never trailed in its game against Rose-Hulman, celebrating Senior Day with an 83-61 blowout victory on Saturday, February 23. DC improves to 5-11 in the HCAC and 9-6 at the Karl H. Weaner Center with the win.

The Jackets wasted no time establishing control of the game, opening up the contest on a 13-0 run. Sarah Bird capped off the spurt with a three-pointer, giving her eight points during the span. DC continued to extend its lead over the next eight minutes of the game as Tasha Stucke’s jumper put Defiance up by 21 points, 25-4. The Jackets’ defense proved to be too much for Rose-Hulman in the first half, forcing 17 turnovers in the opening period alone. DC limited the Engineers to just 12 percent shooting in the half, going into the break with a 32-point lead, 48-16.

Defiance was unable to find the bucket in the opening minutes of the second half as Rose-Hulman would open the second stanza with a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 48-26. However, that was as close as the Engineers would get as the two teams would match each other bucket for bucket over the remainder of the game.

The Jackets hit a season-high 37 shots from the charity stripe, connecting on 84.1 percent of their free throw attempts. As a team DC shot 46.8 percent from the field, while limiting Rose-Hulman to 33.9 percent shooting. Defiance is now 7-3 when holding opponents under 70 points in a game.

13 Lady Jackets found the scoring column on the night, led by Bird who poured in a game-high 18 points. Bird finishes her career at Defiance with 934 points and 118 three-pointers, ranking fourth all-time in that category. Fellow senior Sara Jacobs scored eight points in the game, while Mandy White and Stucke each added eight as well for DC. Holly Stein was seven-of-seven from the line on her way to the HCAC free throw shooting crown, recording 11 points on the night. Amber Bailey broke the school-record for most blocked shots in season as her two blocked shots in the game pushed her season total to 73.

The game wraps the season for Defiance, who finishes 10-14 on the season.