Blue Jays bedeviled

Hearing that one of your top inside players will be sidelined for the rest of the season isn't exactly the best way to get ready to play a game.

The Elizabethtown College women's basketball team faced that precise scenario Tuesday night, when told that 6-foot sophomore Teanna Ziegler would miss the season due to a knee injury suffered last Saturday.

With that news rattling around in their heads, the Blue Jays stayed with Dickinson through the first half, but in the second, with Red Devils guard Brooke Muller leading the way, Dickinson came away with a non-conference 68-53 victory at Thompson Gym.

Muller had 19 points to go along with Carole Dempsey's 21. Megan Strohman led the way for the Blue Jays with 14. Teammates Ali Jury and Kaity Snyder each recorded double-doubles in the game.

The loss dropped the Blue Jays' record to 1-6 overall and they know they have some work to do. They must contend with the loss of Ziegler and try to grow the games of their inexperienced players.

"It's a big obstacle to overcome because she is one of our big girls and we're down to not too many," said Jury, whose 10 points were a career high.

Despite Ziegler's absence, E-town stayed right with Dickinson (5-2) for the first half. When Strohman hit her third 3-pointer of the game just seven minutes in, Dickinson coach Dina Henry called a timeout.

Nearly matching the sound of the music being played during the timeout, Henry made her point to the Red Devils.

"We just need to have more urgency and intensity on defense than we've been showing," she said later, when asked about the timeout's theme.

Strohman would hit no more treys in the game, but for the rest of the first half, Jury (10 rebounds for the game) and Snyder (12 points and 11 rebounds) picked up the slack.

The second half? Different story.

A 10-3 run by the Red Devils, fueled by a pair of treys from Muller, gave Dickinson a 44-35 lead. The Red Devils picked up their inside game, too, and pushed their advantage to 55-40 midway through the second half.

The Red Devils also cut their turnovers down from 12 in the first half to four in the second. E-town had 23 for the game.

The Blue Jays also need to work on getting to the free-throw line a bit more. Tuesday night they were 3-for-5 from the line. Five foul shots is not enough. In fact, the Blue Jays have had fewer free-throw attempts (75) than their opponents have made (96).

But it's not that the Blue Jays don't take their game into the paint. They do. Plus they had 11 offensive rebounds in the game. Still, the lack of free throws puzzles coach Yvonne Kauffman.

"We go up with the same shots (our opponents do)," she said.

As for positives for the Blue Jays, they might look at their schedule. Two of their six losses have come at the hands of nationally-ranked teams (Moravian, Messiah), and Dickinson beat Moravian this season.

"We're right with all of these teams," Kauffman said.

But the Blue Jays are still young, still growing as a team.

"I think you'll see a different team (going forward)," said Kauffman, with the Blue Jays hosting Cabrini Friday and either Wilkes or Shenandoah Saturday in their R1 Sports Blue Jay Classic.

Note: Grace Chesters (Lancaster Country Day) saw action at the end of the game for Dickinson.

kfreeman@lnpnews.com