LEXINGTON, Ky.—The 20th ranked Transylvania University women's basketball team defeated Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent Mount St. Joseph by a score of 75-42 on Wednesday night in front of a Pioneer friendly crowd at the Clive M. Beck Center. The game extended the Pioneers' season opening win streak to five and marks their first win in HCAC play in the 2014-15 season.
The Pioneers jumped out to an early and dominating lead, taking a seven-point lead with just four minutes gone in the first period. A steady does of defensive pressure from Transy challenged the Lions' ball handlers and limited good offensive looks for Mount, forcing three shot clock violations en route to causing 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Critical to Transylvania building its lead in the first half was capitalizing on the Lions' turnovers, and the Pioneers scored 17 points off turnovers. Transy also dominated on the offensive boards, scoring 13 second chance points while holding Mount to only six during the first period.
A jump shot from Katelyn Smith at the 11:41 mark gave the Pioneers a 21-12 run and would springboard Transy into a 15-8 run over eight minutes as they built their largest lead of the opening period, 34-20. Mount would stage a small run of their own to close the half, as they finished the last three minutes of the first half by outscoring the Pioneers 7-2.
The first half would draw to a close with the Pioneers leading Mount36-27 and leading in nearly every statistical category.
Transylvania would put distance between themselves and the Lions by opening the second half on a dominant 22-2 run in the opening stages of the final period. At the 10-minute mark, the Pioneers sat well ahead with a 58-29 lead after forcing five turnovers, including two steals.
A foul on Mount would send the Pioneers to the line for the bonus with nearly nine minutes remaining in the half and Transylvania would continue to build its lead from there. Freshman forward Rachel Cox would sink two free throws at the 8:09 mark to give Transy a 29 point lead.
After a steal, freshman guard Sarah Ashley would go coast-to-coast with six minutes remaining and give the Pioneers a 67-37 lead and they would continue to build from there, taking a lead as large as 34 despite shooting just 14.3% (5-35) from behind the arc.
Transylvania was able to dominate on the boards however, outrebounding Mount 59-31, including 27 offensive rebounds. Head coach Juli Fulks attributed much of the Pioneers' success in the game to their rebounding effort and performance.
"I was very proud of the determination and drive we showed to rebound tonight," Fulks said. "They packed in the zone and with a night where we weren't shooting well, we needed the extra effort on the glass."
Not only did Transy take control of the rebounding scenario, but a stout defensive effort from the Pioneers limited Mount to only 30% (15-50) shooting from the field and forced more turnovers than field goals allowed. Of the 21 turnovers created by the Transy defense, 11 were steals and the Pioneers turned defense into offense by scoring 30 points off turnovers. The defensive effort kept Mount out of the paint, as they only scored 16 points in the lane. Mount also failed to have a player score more than eight points.
In addition, Transylvania shared the ball well offensively, recording assists on more than 50% of their field goals after dishing out 15 assists on 29 field goals made. Sophomore guard Jordin Fenderled the Pioneers with assists, recording six in her 22 minutes of play.
Katelyn Smith continued her torrid scoring pace early in the season, going 10-13 from the field and scoring a game-high 23 points. Senior forward Alex McKenzie dropped in 18 points as the only other Pioneer player to score in double figures.
With the win Transylvania moves to 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in HCAC play. They will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 6 when they travel to Terre Haut, Ind. to take on Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (4-2, 0-0) in an HCAC matchup.