Jackets Fall to HCAC-Leading Manchester, 79-67

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance were unable to stay undefeated in the HCAC, falling to reigning champion Manchester, 79-67, on Saturday, December 13. The Jackets fall to 1-1 in HCAC play with the loss, while dropping to 4-4 overall.

Manchester jumped out to a 20-12 advantage in the first ten minutes of the contest, but the Jackets would use a run over the next four minutes to tie the game at 24 as Katie Carunchia's jumper capped off a 12-4 spurt by DC. The Spartans pushed their lead back to four, 30-26, before buckets by Courtney Schmersal and Mandie White knotted the game back up at 30-30. Tasha Stucke's back-to-back jumpers kept the game close in the final minutes of the half, but Kelley Meiklejohn scored six of her team's next seven points to help Manchester take a 37-34 lead into the break.

A Schmersal trey cut the Spartan lead to two, 39-37, just two minutes into the final period, but Manchester would score on six of its next eight possessions to grab its first double-digit lead of the contest, 51-41. Defiance would cut the lead to six, 53-47, on a jumper by Katie McNamara, but would get no closer as Manchester answered each DC basket to secure the victory.

Manchester used 29-of-36 shooting from the charity stripe to claim the victory, connecting on 11 more free throws than DC (18-of-24). The Spartans hit 45.1 percent of their shots from the field, while also tallying 22 second-chance points. Defiance, who was limited to just 33.8 percent shooting from the field, was held under 70 points for the first time in its last five HCAC contests.

The Jackets had ten players find the scoring column, as the Defiance bench recorded 30 of the team's 67 points.  Shavonda Price scored a team-high 10 points to go along with her four board and four assists. The post tandem of Amber Bailey and White combined for 14 points, 10 caroms and four steals.

Defiance returns to action on Wednesday, December 17, when it travels to Lexington, Ky. for a HCAC matchup with Transylvania University. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.