Comden's Career Day Carries Yellow Jackets Past Mount

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Yellow Jacket women's basketball team continued its dominating play inside the Hive on Saturday against Mount St. Joseph, as the Purple and Gold used a strong second-half performance to coast to a 70-55 victory. Former All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference performer, Kim Comden recorded a new career-high in scoring with 25 points.

The contest started out as a see-saw battle, as the two sides settled into the game. DC's Ashley Birchmeier's layup ten minutes into the half knotted the score at 15-15. Mount then went on a scoring spurt and reeled off six-straight points over the next two minutes of action to jump out to a 21-15 advantage.

The Purple and Gold responded with a 7-0 run of its own, capped off by an Erica King trey to grab a one-point lead with 6:47 remaining in the stanza. The two sides battled back-and-forth over the next four minutes, as the score was gridlocked at 28-28 with less than three minutes to the break.

Defiance finished off the half strong, as Kim Bingley and Marissa Kath combined for the Jackets' last six points of the first and gave the Purple and Gold a 34-30 halftime lead. Comden paced the Jackets at the break with 10 points and seven rebounds. A trio of Yellow Jackets in King, Kath and Bingley each had six points in the first.

The second frame began with Comden taking over on the offensive end for DC. The center scored the Jackets' first six points out of the intermission and helped the team open up a double-digit advantage at 47-34 with nearly five minutes gone by in the second.

The Lions quickly came roaring back, as MSJ used a 10-0 run, in just under three-minute's time, to cut the deficit to a one-possession game at 47-44.

Defiance showed its resilience and answered the MSJ spurt with one of its own. The Jackets managed to outscore Mount by a 17-5 margin over the next seven minutes and put the game out of reach with the score being 64-49 with five minutes left on the clock.

The Purple and Gold cruised the rest of the way to a 70-55 victory that improved its HCAC record to 6-2 and its overall record to 9-6. The win gives Defiance a home record of 6-1 and a conference home mark of 5-0.

The aforementioned Comden had a career-day, as the senior poured in her most points in a single game as a Yellow Jacket with 25 points on 10-19 shooting. The center added 12 rebounds to complete her fifth double-double of the season and ninth of her career. The Defiance native added three blocks to the outstanding performance.

DC's next game is against Earlham on Wednesday, January 16, as the Quakers travel to Defiance for a conference matchup. The game is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.