One tiny match can create a huge fire.
Tiffin University's Karli Mast provided just that kind of spark near the end of the first half, taking a close game and making it not so close at the half, as the Dragons (13-4, 8-3 GLIAC) defeated Wayne State (9-8, 4-6) 84-70 in the Gillmor Center.
With TU holding a narrow 24-19 lead with 6:57 to play in the first half, Mast raised the sails and took off, burying three straight treys in a span of 90 seconds to push TU's lead to 33-21 with 5:08 to play.
TU eventually took a 44-34 lead into the half, but the tone had been set, as the Dragons defense forced 20 Warriors miscues and buried 10 three pointers in the game to put WSU away.
The Dragons came out in the first 3:30 of the second half and pushed its lead to 20 points. They maintained a double digit lead throughout nearly all of the second half.
The Dragons totaled 22 points off Warriors' turnovers and shot a blistering 51 percent from the field. While the Warriors and the Dragons had the same amount of total shots (58) and nearly the same amount of field goals (30-29, TU), the Dragons had 10 treys to Wayne State's 2.
The turnovers coupled with TU's three point edge offset a rebounding advantage (34-24) for the Warriors, who controlled the paint by a 40-20 margin.
Mast led the Dragons with 23 points on red-hot 8 of 10 shooting from the floor, including 5 of 6 from three point land. Jennifer Johnston also had 17 points with 3 treys, and Mandy Jaeb had 12 points and 7 assists.
Jessica Harris led the TU post players with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, while Amanda Baute had 7 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.
