By Tim Stried
February 19, 2003

Senior Melissa James hit a career-high five 3-pointers, but Bluffton College fell 84-47 to a visiting Defiance College squad Wednesday night in Founders Hall.

Bluffton's six seniors were honored before the game as Kristen Siller, Liesel Hughett, Heather Demery, Lyndsey Robinson, Paula Fry and James suited up for the final time in Founders Hall in front of a season-high 400 fans.

James finished with a game-high 18 points, while Hughett scored a career-high 11 points, including a career-high three 3-pointers. As a team, the Beavers were 10-for-25 from trey land, both numbers marking season-highs.

Defiance led 34-21 at halftime and went on runs of 15-5 and 14-3 midway through the second half to take control of the game.

Robinson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to go along with four points.

Bluffton sees their season record slip to 2-21 overall and 1-13 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, while Defiance improves to 11-14 overall and 8-6 in the HCAC.

Defiance shot 54.2% from the field to mark the highest shooting percentage by an opponent this season. The Lady Jackets were led by Kristin Helvey's season-high 17 points.

Bluffton will travel to Thomas More College Saturday at 2 p.m. and will be on the road Tuesday night for a first round HCAC tournament game.