DEFIANCE, Ohio – Franklin College stormed back from a 13-point first-half deficit and topped host Defiance College 61-52 to claim a share of the 2011-12 Heartland Conference women's basketball championship this afternoon.

The Lady Griz, ranked 19th in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and rated 18th in the USA Today/ESPN Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll this week, improved to 16-2 in the HCAC and 23-2 overall, claiming its sixth HCAC title and ninth championship since the league began as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1993.

Franklin shares this year's crown with arch rival Hanover College,  an 83-57 winner at Rose-Hulman today, but the Grizzlies own the No. 1 seed and will host the annual HCAC Tournament next week by virtue of defeating Hanover in both their head-to-head meetings this season.

The host Yellow Jackets finished their regular season at 9-9 in the HCAC and 11-14, but are in the league tourney with a No. 5 seed.

FC fell behind by 13 points midway in the first period, but answered with a 19-0 run in the course of six minutes to seize a 33-27 lead. Senior guard Monica Schwab (Martinsville, Ind./H.S.) capped the surge with a 3-point basket with 4:15 before the intermission.

The Lady Griz led 37-31 at halftime and never relinquished the lead from then on to claim the league title.

Franklin was led by junior center Jess Prewett (Washington, Ind./H.S.), who tallied 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Senior guard Sarah Condra (Nineveh, Ind./Whiteland Community) scored 14 points and had a dozen rebounds. Sophomore forward Krista Schott (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) was scoreless, but hauled in nine rebounds and had four of FC's eight blocked shots.

Contributing from the bench were Schwab, who finished with 12 points, including a pair of treys, and sophomore forward Krista Beaman (Milroy, Ind./Rushville Consolidated), who scored 11 points and had eight rebounds. 

Franklin grabbed 53 total rebounds to Defiance's 33 and held the Yellow Jackets to just 26.7 percent field goal shooting after the break.

Defiance was paced by Hannah Harshman, who scored 17 points and had nine rebounds. Erica King tallied 13 points off the bench and starter Kim Comden chipped in with 10.

The schedule and pairings for next week's 2012 HCAC Tournament at Franklin College will be posted when announced by the league office.