Ravens Suffer Heartbreaking Loss to Yellow Jackets

Defiance College's Taylor Day drove the lane and sank a five-foot jumper with one second remaining as the Anderson University women's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 56-54 loss to Defiance during Tuesday's HCAC matchup in Defiance, Ohio.
 
"This is a disappointing loss," Coach Lindsay Shade said. "Defiance was hungry for a win and they looked like they wanted it more than we did. We weren't mentally or physically tough enough to play with discipline, defensively. We got outrebounded, outhustled, and outworked."
 
The Yellow Jackets (1-3, 1-0) outscored the Ravens (2-4, 0-1) by a 14-8 margin in the fourth quarter and kept Anderson off the board for a 5-minute, 7-second stretch.
 
"You have to give credit to Defiance. They were locked in defensively in the fourth quarter and made enough plays down the stretch to grab the conference win."
 
Lexi Dellinger (Berne, Ind./South Adams) led the Ravens with 25 points, which includes 18 in the first half. The sophomore from Berne drained 3-of-6 (50 percent) shots from 3-point range.
 
Hannah Hawkins (Fairmount, Ind./Madison-Grant) totaled nine points, three blocks and six rebounds. Payton Moore (Spiceland, Ind./Tri) tallied six points and a team-high seven rebounds. Mariah Clemons (Maineville, Ohio/Little Miami) recorded six points and six rebounds. Hanna Ault (Pennville, Ind./Jay County) scored five points and Rylee Morris (Indianapolis, Ind./Lutheran) rounded out Anderson's scoring with three points.
 
Taylor Steinbrunner and Lauren Criblez paced Defiance with 10 points each. Danielle Carruthers pulled down 11 rebounds.
 
Defiance outrebounded Anderson 46-36. The Yellow Jackets finished with a 12-9 advantage on offensive boards, which lead to a 15-6 advantage in second-chance points.
 
Anderson converted 21-of-63 (33.3 percent) shots from the field and 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) attempts from the perimeter. The Yellow Jackets made 19-of-55 (34.5 percent) shots from the floor and 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) attempts from behind the arc.
 
Defiance knocked down 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) shots from the free-throw line while Anderson drained 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.
 
Anderson committed just eight turnovers while Defiance turned the ball over 15 times. The Ravens outscored the Yellow Jackets 12-10 off turnovers.
 
Anderson clashes with Transylvania University (4-1, 0-0), which is tied for 15th in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) poll, during Saturday's HCAC matchup at 1 p.m. in O.C. Lewis Gymnasium.
 
"We have three days to regroup and then host a top 15 program on Saturday. I will be interested to see how we respond."