Cedarville Holds Off Central State

The Cedarville Yellow Jackets won its second straight game in a thriller against the Central State Marauders on Tuesday. The Jackets won a back-and-forth affair, 77-71.

Six players finished in double figures for the Jackets. The game showed how complete of a team the Jackets are.

Cedarville head coach Kari Hoffman emphasized how important it is for the team to have multiple threats.

“That is huge, that is really huge,” Hoffman said. “Right now our rotation is pretty small, but the players that are playing are producing. Any one of those five players out there can score in a different way, and that makes us hard to stop.”

Regina Hochstetler led the way for the Jackets for the second straight game, scoring 19 points. Baylee Bennett chipped in 16 points and led the team with five assists. Breanne Watterworth added 13 points, and Emily Williams and Kaitlyn Holm each scored 12.

Taylor Buckley also reached double figures in rebounds, pulling down 10.

The Jackets took the lead from the start, and didn’t squander it until 5:06 left in the third quarter.

Central State was able to chop down Cedarville’s lead thanks in part to tenacious defense.

“Having toughness with the ball in our hands and having toughness to get open is something we’ve worked on a lot,” Hoffman said. “We’ve worked on it a lot, and I’m proud of the way our girls have responded in that area.”

Central State maintained its lead into much of the fourth quarter, but Hochstetler hit a triple to put the Jackets up for good with 5:17 left.

“It was great,” Hochstetler said of the shot. “There was a breakdown in the defense and my teammates got me the ball. It was definitely a fun shot to make.”

As the game waned, Cedarville was able to extend its lead by a point or two each minute.

With under a minute left, Central State had to begin fouling the Jackets. Cedarville hit four free throws to seal the game.

The Jackets (2-3) get more than a week off until their next game. Cedarville will welcome the Ohio Christian Trailblazers at home on December 1. The Trailblazers are 4-2, and were dismantled by Cedarville in its last meeting, 85-48.

Tim Miller is a freshman journalism student at Cedarville University. Tim loves anything that has to do with sports, and hopes to write about sports for a career after graduating from Cedarville.