Warriors Take Advantage Of Second Chances, Drop Dragons 65-56

Tiffin freshman, Annie Santucci, scored a game high 16 points for the Dragons.
Tiffin freshman, Annie Santucci, scored a game high 16 points for the Dragons.

The Tiffin University women's basketball team struggled to control the paint on Saturday afternoon, falling 65-56 to the Wayne State Warriors. Wayne State held an advantage in rebounds, points in the paint, 2nd chance points, and forced Tiffin into 17 turnovers.

Tiffin's offense took a while to wake up on Saturday afternoon, as they scored only nine 1st quarter points. On the flip side, Wayne State had little issues scoring the basketball, netting 21 points in the opening quarter. It was the tale of two quarters in the 2nd, as Tiffin's defense held the Warriors to only seven points. The Dragons slowly cut into their deficit, pouring in 14 2nd quarter points to trail 28-23 at the half.

Tiffin connected on only 36.4% of their 1st half field goals, and were 3 of 9 from beyond the arc. A rebounding deficit and 11 turnovers didn't help Tiffin's cause as they surrendered seven 1st half offensive boards.

The 3rd quarter started with a 5-2 Tiffin run to trim their deficit to 30-28. The Warriors responded with a 7-2 scamper to take a 37-30 lead with 03:14 remaining in the quarter. Tiffin beat the buzzer to end the quarter, as Ali Schirmer's layup sent Tiffin to the 4th quarter trailing 43-36.

In the final quarter, it was one step forward and two steps back for Tiffin. For every Dragons' run to close the gap to four or less points, there was a Wayne State run to increase their lead to seven or eight. The final dagger came with only 53 seconds remaining as the Warriors missed the back end of two free throw attempts, but managed to get an offensive board and layup to give them 19 2nd chance points. Wayne State left the door open for Tiffin over the course of the final minute, hitting only 5 of 10 free throw attempts, but Tiffin was unable to make up the difference as they fell 65-56.

Tiffin was led in scoring by Annie Santucci with 16 points off the bench. The freshman hit 7 of 13 field goals, 2 of 4 three pointers, and added three steals. Ali Schirmer was the only other Dragon in double figures, scoring 13 points. 

The Dragons now sit 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the GLIAC.