Box Score RICHMOND, Ind. â€" The Earlham College women's basketball team began Wednesday night in a three-way tie for sixth place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

After beating Defiance College 83-49 on Schuckman Court in the Athletics and Wellness Center, the Quakers now stand alone in sixth as they hold the final post-season spot in the HCAC Tournament with three games remaining in the regular season.

"I am unbelievably proud of this team," Earlham Head Coach Melissa Johnson said. "Going in, we knew how important this game was."

"We had a phenominal crowd that gave us great energy and helped us get out to a fast start," Johnson continued. "Every player that stepped on the court helped us win this game."

Earlham is now 11-11 overall with a 7-8 mark in the conference. Defiance and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, which also lost on Wednesday, fell out of the tie for sixth with the Quakers and into seventh place.

The Yellow Jackets (9-13, 6-9) scored the first basket of the contest, but other than three early ties they never challenged the Quakers.

Earlham took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Bria Sneed with 17:01 left in the opening period. Defiance cut the deficit to 16-12 by the 11:31 mark, but the game wouldn't be that close again.

Hot shooting and a barrage of 3-pointers put the Quakers up 47-26 by halftime and they never looked back.

The Quakers were 20-of-28 (71.4 percent) from the floor in the first half as they nailed 6-of-8 attempts behind the 3-point line.

For the game, Earlham was 34-of-55 for 61.8 percent. They did cool off behind the 3-point arc finishing 7-of-13 for 53.8 percent.

Sneed led the Quakers with 23 points to give her 1,169 in her career. She trails Tasha Merrill (2005-09) for fifth place on Earlham's all-time scoring list. Merrill has 1,201 points.

Kasin Spay tossed in 14 points, while Lexi McFarland finished with 11 points.

Raven Bryant-Williams led the Quakers with 10 rebounds. Hannah Franklin handed out 10 assists, which was three more than the entire Defiance squad had for the contest.

The Quakers continue their quest to make post-season play for the first time since 2008 on Saturday as they face Franklin College at home. The Senior Day affair gets underway at 1 p.m.

Box Score