Franklin, Ind. - The Franklin College women's basketball team will host Defiance College on Tuesday, February 23, in a first-round game in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) postseason tournament. Tipoff is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the Spurlock Center.
Ticket prices for all postseason contests, as set by the HCAC, are: $8 for adults, and $5 for senior citizens and students ages 12-18. Children below 11 years of age receive free admission. Students, faculty, and staff members at both participating schools will also receive free admission by showing their college identification at the ticket desk.
The Grizzlies are the tournament's No. 3 seed after posting a 14-4 regular-season league record and is 18-7 for the season. Meanwhile, Defiance is the No. 6 seed, with a 6-12 HCAC record and a 7-18 overall mark.
Franklin enters postseason play on a five-game winning streak, has an 8-1 home record this winter, and swept both regular-season meetings with Defiance: a 70-34 win in the league opener on December 5, 2015, at the Spurlock Center and a 47-45 win on February 6, after scoring the final 16 points of the contest.
The Grizzlies are coming off a 52-46 win at Anderson University in the regular-season finale last Saturday. Sophomore Kelsey Smith (Lexington, Ind./Scottsburg) scored a career-high 17 points in the victory.
Junior Lauren DeSutter (Pittsboro, Ind./Tri-West) leads the team's offensive attack at 12.2 points per contest. She also topped the team with 58 assists and 41 steals. She connected on 38 percent of her three-point field goal attempts for the season.
Senior Katie Brewer (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) is averaging 11.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. She leads the HCAC with 49 blocked shots. Junior Kayle Comer (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) has made a team-high 40 three-point field goals on the season. Comer is averaging 9.3 points per outing.
Smith's 17 points at Anderson increased her season scoring average to 6.6 points per game. Junior Emily Alfrey (Fairland, Ind./Triton Central) rounds out the team's offensive attack at 5.6 points per outing.
Defiance's Kelsie Tiejte led the HCAC in scoring (19.9 ppg) and rebounding (12.3 rpg) during the regular season. Sam Ervin (9.4 ppg) and Ashley Williams (7.4 ppg) round out the team's offensive attack. The Yellow Jackets enter postseason play following a 61-48 loss at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology last Saturday.
The winner of Tuesday's Franklin-Defiance game will advance to play Rose-Hulman in one of Friday's semifinal-round games at Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio.
Live video and statistics of Tuesday's contest will be available. In-game updates will also be available on Twitter (@FCAthletics). Like the Grizzlies on Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinCollegeAthletics), and on Instagram (@fcgrizzlies).