Women’s basketball comes up short in 2019-20 home opener

DEFIANCE, Ohio – In its 2019-20 home opener on Tuesday, the Defiance College women's basketball team battled and led for much of the game before suffering a 68-59 loss to the Ohio Northern University Polar Bears in a non-conference matchup at the Karl H. Weaner Community Center.

"We played hard all night," Defiance head coach Allan King Jr. said. "What I'm proud of is our girls executed the scouting report and they played their guts out. I've been telling our girls we're capable, we're there, we're close, just keep battling, keep working, and I think maybe we should believe after tonight that we're capable."

The Yellow Jackets got out to a 16-10 lead before trailing 21-19 after one quarter. In the second period, DC took its largest advantage of the contest, 33-24, with just under six minutes left before halftime and led, 37-30, at the intermission. Ohio Northern went back on top, 51-48, at the end of the third quarter and never fell behind again. The Polar Bears' biggest lead was 66-53 with 1:31 to go and the hosts could get no closer than the final nine-point margin.

Defiance stayed in the game by making 9 of 21 (42.9 percent) of its three-point field goal attempts, compared to just 3 of 18 (16.7) for ONU. The Yellow Jackets were outscored 42-16 in the paint and guilty of 22 turnovers to the guests' 15.

Freshmen Taylor Steinbrunner (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) and Briana Townley (Paulding, Ohio/Paulding) collected 12 points each off the bench to pace DC while Danielle Carruthers (New London, Ohio/New London) scored 10 to go along with a game-high eight rebounds. Kalyn Pickens (Fort Wayne, Ind./R. Nelson Snider) added nine points, five boards and a game-best five assists.

Defiance falls to 0-3 overall on the season while Ohio Northern improves to 4-0. The Jackets are back at home next Tuesday to begin Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play against Anderson University (Ind.). Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.