Chapman Leads Lady Jackets to Big Win Over Tiffin

By Abigail Hintz

After a long week on the road, the Cedarville Lady Jackets seemed comfortable back at home Thursday evening for a G-MAC matchup against the Tiffin University Dragons. The Jackets handled the Dragons fairly easily, defeating them 87-72. They move to 12-5, 5-3 G-MAC, after the well-rounded victory.

The Jackets’ defense forced the Dragons to push the shot clock frequently. The Dragons responded with a high press, but Cedarville was able to break it down and have an impressive offensive performance.

The Jackets had four players in double digits. Sophomore guard Emily Chapman put down 20 points, followed by senior guard Abby Wolford with 14, freshman guard Paige Garr with 12, tying her season-high, and junior guard Ashlyn Huffman with ten. The team as a whole shot extremely well, shooting 50 percent from deep and over 50 percent from the field.

Chapman was happy with her team’s performance, saying, “We knew this week that we had to come in prepared, ready to win this game. We had to battle at the boards which I thought we did a great job.”

Freshman guard Isabelle Bolender opened the scoring with a 3-pointer. Chapman followed it up with two of her own, and sophomore guard Allison Mader took a fourth putting the Jackets up 12-5 with five and a half minutes to play in the first quarter.

Abby Wolford (3) goes up for a layup. She had 14 points in the win over Tiffin. [Photos by Lydia Wolterman]

Play was back and forth in the second quarter, but the Jackets continued to hold strong. They kept their lead consistent, going into the media timeout up 32-21. The Jackets gained some serious momentum when Garr put down two back-to-back 3-pointers to put her team up 41-24 and forcing a Dragons timeout. Coming out of the timeout she continued her run, taking a layup to complete an 8-0 run for the Jackets on her own. The Jackets went into the locker room up 45-30.

The second half took a slow start for the Lady Jackets, who let the Dragons go on a 6-2 run early. Their defense got sloppy, committing five fouls in the first three minutes. Tiffin got within ten going into the first media timeout down 58-48. The Dragons won the quarter 26-22 despite a late surge from the Jackets.

“We were just getting a little anxious against their press, putting the ball in the floor, turning it over, so we just needed to settle down,” said Hoffman. “We just needed to be disciplined and I  thought we got back to that in the fourth.”

Cedarville turned the tables early in the final period, going on a 6-2 run of their own in the first two and a half minutes. They stayed back in their dominating form for the remainder of the game, taking the last quarter 20-16 and the game 87-72.

The Jackets will now travel to Ohio Dominican on Saturday for a 3:15 p.m. tipoff. The Jackets beat the Panthers on Jan. 2 77-55.

Abigail Hintz is a sophomore journalism major and Digital Editor for Cedars. She loves reading, playing Spikeball with her friends and watching soccer 24/7.