PAINESVILLE, Ohio - In an up and down season, the Dragons did not want to leave anything to chance.
The Dragons raced out to a 43-15 lead in the first half and never looked back as Tiffin (15-10, 9-9 GLIAC) defeated Lake Erie (3-21, 2-16) 72-48 Thursday night (Feb 24) at the Jerome T. Osborne Athletic Center in Painesville, Ohio.
Karli Mast led the Dragons with 18 points while Mandy Jaeb added 14. Jessica Harris added a team-high eight rebounds in only 19 minutes played. Stephanie Rogers added a game-high 19 points, the only Lake Erie player to reach double-digits.
As has been the case many times this season, Tiffin spotted the opposition a few points before the Dragons exerted control. Lake Erie was given a four spot before a Mast three and jumper gave Tiffin the lead for good. Amanda Baute pushed it to 7-4 with a pair from the line, but Lake Erie cut it back down to one with a Rogers layup. Jaeb entered the scoring column for TU with a jumper from downtown. A Chrissy Delaney layup cut the TU advantage in half, but the Dragons answered with a 33-7 run to end the half.
Jaeb started the TU spurt with a pair of jumpers followed by a jumper by Stephanie Kelly while Jaeb pushed the lead to 10 with a steal and a clear path to the bucket for the fastbreak score. Lake Erie pushed it back to 18-10 with a layup with 9:01 left, but Baute got a layup and Mast added another shot from downtown to put Tiffin up by 13. Two free throws by Jillian Adams and a split by Mast extended the lead to 26-10 with 8:11 left. The Dragons were able to expand the lead the rest of the half and a Kelly three with five seconds left in the stanza gave TU its largest lead of the half, 43-15.
It was the second-lowest points total for a first half for a TU opponent this season and the second-largest advantage at the intermission of a game this season for the Dragons.
Harris made a lay-up to open the second half and Tiffin never led by less than 22 the rest of the way as TU beat the home team by 24.
The Dragons return to action Saturday when it plays Ohio Dominican for the second time in a week. Game time at the Gillmor Center is approximately 3 p.m.
