PAINESVILLE, Ohio – Aarion Nichols and Mary Redmond both tied their career highs in a Dragon uniform, but Tiffin women's basketball fell to Lake Erie College 76-63 on Saturday afternoon.
Tiffin led at the end of the first quarter and trailed by just two at halftime, but the Storm outscored the Dragons 47-36 in the second-half to come away with the win.
Nichols finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Redmond tallied eight points for the Dragons. Jasmine Watts also added eight boards and six points off the bench, and Georgia Perrott-Hunt contributed six points and four boards.
Tiffin won the turnover battle, forcing 19 and committing 17. The teams were even at 35 on the glass, but the Dragons held an 11-3 advantage on the offensive boards and outscored the Storm 10-2 in second chance opportunities.
Lake Erie opened the game with eight unanswered points, but Tiffin quickly cut the difference in half with back-to-back layups from Georgia Perrott-Hunt and Jensen Hiegel. Those buckets ignited a 14-2 Dragon run, culminating with a Jasmine Watts layup that made it 14-10 in favor of TU with two minutes left in the opening quarter.
At the end of one, Tiffin held a 16-13 advantage, shooting 50% as a team and led by four points apiece from Aarion Nichols and Amanda Fire.
The second quarter started slow, with the teams only scoring a combined 11 points over the first six minutes. The Storm would break out for a late 8-0 run however, broken up by Mary Redmond's triple with 19 seconds left that made it 29-27 in favor of the home team.
The Dragons forced nine Storm turnovers in the opening half that led to eight points, while Lake Erie scored four points off of just five Tiffin turnovers.
TU opened the second half with five unanswered points on a Nichols layup and Redmond and-one to take a three-point lead, but Lake Erie responded with a big run that eventually gave the Storm a 56-48 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back layups by Nichols brought the Dragons within four, 58-54, early in the final period, but the Storm then tallied seven unanswered to build their advantage back up to 11. A Hiegel three cut the deficit back down to six, 67-61, with 2:43 remaining, but the Storm were able to hold off the Dragons and take the 76-63 victory.
After over a month on the road, Tiffin will finally return home to Old Fort Bank Court and host Davis & Elkins College next Thursday at 5:30 p.m.