SYLVANIA, Ohio. – Lourdes women's basketball (17-4) (13-2 in WHAC) bested Defiance (3-18) (0-15 in WHAC) 72 to 55 on Wednesday evening, improving the Lourdes men's and women's basketball combined home record to an NAIA best 22-0.
Leading the nation at home has propelled the women's team to sole possession of 2
nd place in the WHAC, one game behind Indiana Tech. The Gray Wolves are also currently riding a six-game winning streak.
The game was also significant to Lourdes as the university celebrated National Women in Sports Night by honoring the various Lourdes women's athletic programs at media timeouts. The night also included recognitions of Lourdes' WHAC Tournament Champion women's basketball and cheer teams from last season.
1st Quarter:
The Gray Wolves started off the game dominating Defiance on defense, holding the Yellow Jackets to just 10 first quarter points. Lourdes senior forward
Tamyah Worthy had a stellar 1
st quarter with six points and five rebounds. Statistically, Worthy had the best game of her career tonight with a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double on 75% shooting from the field. Worthy talked postgame on her game and the team's nation-leading success at home.
"My teammates trust me a lot on the defensive end to lead them with my energy, so I keep pushing forward to bring our defense up," Worthy said postgame. "Offensively, once we clean the turnovers up, we're going to be unstoppable. We have a lot of local girls, so when we get to play in front of the home crowd, we want to play hard. One fan in particular, Jerome, he travels everywhere with us. We want show up for the home crowd because they've supported us a lot."
Along with Worthy, senior guard
Emma Pedroza had a great first quarter. The Napoleon, Ohio native scored eight of her 18 points in the first quarter. Pedroza ended the game with six rebounds and four steals as well.
2nd Quarter:
Lourdes led Defiance 45 to 27 at the half thanks to a 29-point 2
nd quarter by the Gray Wolves offense. Junior guard
Kaylona Butler went off with three triples and a layup for an 11-point quarter. She finished the game leading all scorers with 19 points.
Senior forward
Camryn Ivy had a couple jumpers and a block in the quarter as well. Ivy's 38 career blocks rank 4
th all-time in Lourdes history. With her two blocks in Wednesday's game she is now tied for 4
th in Lourdes history for single-season blocks with 24 this year. Ivy needs five more to break the record of 28 set by both Mercedes Wagner and Tiffany Scott.
3rd Quarter:
The third quarter saw Defiance's offense come to life as they outscored Lourdes by eight. The Gray Wolves' half-court offense started to become stagnant and the Yellow Jackets had cut the lead to single digits at one point in the quarter. Defiance was only down 10 with a quarter left to play.
4th Quarter:
The Lourdes bench helped keep Defiance at bay in the fourth quarter with big time three pointers from senior guard duo
Ray Armstrong and
Karsyn Edwards. Defiance was held to nine points in the quarter and was forced into three turnovers by the scrappy Gray Wolves defense. Lourdes held on to win the game by 17.
Stats:
Lourdes outshot Defiance by 12% from the field and 6.8% from the three-point arc in the game. Both teams shot 62.5% from the free throw line. Lourdes outrebounded Defiance by two but let up 14 offensive rebounds to the Yellow Jackets.
Coach Bradford's Postgame Comments:
"I thought Tamyah 's energy and effort tonight is really what kept us at a winning standard," coach Bradford said postgame. "I'm proud of Tamyah's focus and her ability to show up and try to outwork people. I'm also really proud of our bench for being able to come in and be composed and handle the back and forth of a game that should have been more dominant. We had really good moments of flow in transition on offense tonight but we never really got it all together in our half court offense. As far as the home record goes, between our families and the fans that come out and cheer us on and support us, our student-athletes here at Lourdes love playing for the Lourdes community. We love our home crowd and we feed off that."
Next game:
Lourdes will rematch Cleary this Saturday at home at 1:00 p.m for Court vs. Cancer Night.
