PHOTOS

VIDEO INTERVIEW - JANEL IDEN

VIDEO INTERVIEW - LEXI MCFARLAND

VIDEO INTERVIEW - HANNAH FRANKLIN 

RICHMOND, Ind. – The Earlham College women's basketball team notched its first Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) victory with a 69-56 triumph over Defiance at Schuckman Court on Wednesday.

Leading 28-20 at halftime and 43-35 after three quarters, the Quakers turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter. Earlham used four straight points from junior Maya Luney to engineer a 10-0 run. The Yellow Jackets scored their first points of the quarter at the 4:41 mark on two free throws from Erica Smay. Defiance would not make a field goal until a three-pointer from Ashley Williams with 3:12 to play in regulation.

Trailing 57-47 with two minutes to play, Defiance elected to begin fouling. Earlham, which came into the contest at the eighth-best free throw shooting team in all of NCAA Division III (76.1 percent), simply hit three throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Four Quakers finished in double figures with junior Hannah Franklin leading the way with 14 points. Junior Lexi McFarland added 13 points while senior Kasin Spay and junior Mariah Flynn each tallied 11 points.

Flynn also notched a double-double, grabbing 13 rebounds.

Tietje led all scorers with 16 points while also adding 15 rebounds and four blocks. Erica Smay and Ashley Williams added 13 and 12 points respectively.

Both teams shot under 35 percent from the field as well as exactly 25 percent (2-8 for Earlham and 7-28 for Defiance) from three-point land. The Quakers converted on 23-30 (76.7 percent) free throw attempts while the Yellow Jackets were just 15-30 (50 percent) from the charity stripe.

Earlham held a distinct edge in rebounding as the Quakers hauled in 57 boards compared to 36 for Defiance. Of those 57 rebounds, 25 were offensive for Earlham, a season high.

The Quakers return to action on Saturday with a 1 p.m. contest against Mount St. Joseph at Schuckman Court.