The Tiffin University women's basketball team fell behind in the first half, but a 2nd half comeback nearly brought the Dragons back. Free throws with 2 seconds remaining, however, the Walsh Cavaliers the opportunity to break the Dragons heart on Valentine's Day 64-63.
The Dragons and Cavaliers both struggled shooting early as the teams were both under 35% from the field in the first five minutes of half number one. Then the Cavaliers brought Kelsey Funderburgh off the bench, the leading scorer for the Cavaliers. Kelsey was hot from beyond the arc. She hit five threes in the first half to put the Cavs' in front with a comfortable 16 point lead at the half. The Dragons only shot 28% from the floor in the half, and their 10 first half turnovers led to 18 Cavalier points.
The Dragons came out of the locker room and took off. The Dragons turned the 16 point deficit to a tie ballgame in only nine minutes and fifty-one seconds. The runs at that point was 18-4 in favor of Tiffin, but the Dragons were not done yet. They pushed the run to 23-7, and led by six points with 06:54 left in the game. The Cavaliers finally woke up and responded, by tying the game with 37 seconds left. The next half-minute was filled with highs and lows for both sides. The Dragons sent Kaylee Patton to the free throw line with 31 seconds left, and Kaylee made both freebies. Walsh responded with Brittni Clopton being fouled by Bre Nauman, her 5th foul, and Clopton sank both free throws. The Dragons were in-bounding the basketball with 26 seconds left, and the ball was thrown away. This turnover was the 23rd of the game for Tiffin and set the Cavaliers up to win the ballgame. Brittni Clopton was fouled with 01.4 seconds left and she went to the line making only one, but that was enough as the clock ran out on the Dragons' amazing comeback.
The Dragons were led by Bre Nauman with 16 points and 12 rebounds, Kaylee Patton added 15 points and 5 boards, and Shelby Cheston came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 8 rebounds.
The loss drops the Dragons to 7-17 overall and 6-12 in GLIAC play.
