WBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Congratulations, felicitations, and all best wishes go to Wittenberg's sophomore guard Victoria Leali, this week's recipient of the NCAC Player of the Week award.    Leali was honored for her career-high 19 points in the Tigers' win at defending champion Denison.  Well done, Victoria! 

[David Collinge]

LaRoche 52, Oberlin (1-6) 41.  Recap and box score.

[David Collinge]

Ohio Northern 72, Ohio Wesleyan 55.  Box.

OWU shot 55% in the first half, but permitted ONU six more shots at the hoop, allowing the PBs to grab a 3 point halftime lead.  Then in the second it was Katie-bar-the-door, as ONU blistered the nets at a 66.7% clip, including a perfect 4/4 from the arc.  Twenty-seven Bishop turnovers probably didn't help much, either.  Jenny Markle led the Polar Bears with 18 points on six-of-six shooting from the arc. OWU was led by Steffi Graf's 16 and Lindsey Macklin's 14.  Macklin's 5 rebounds was good enough to lead the team; that's what happens when your opponent never misses!

[David Collinge]

Penn St.-Behrend 67, Hiram 56.

Hiram, which hit just 31.4% of their field goal attempts on the night, was led by sophomores Brittany Mayle (15 points) and Sam DiCello (13 points and 9 boards.) 

The second half saw a combined 57 field goal attempts (just 18 of them successful) and 30 personal fouls, leading to 39 free throws (27 of them successful.)  I must say I'm glad I wasn't there to witness it.

[David Collinge]

Wooster 73, Ursuline 60.

For some reason, I thought this game was to be played tomorrow, so I didn't go.   What I didn't see is Coach Lisa Campanell Komara's 100th victory at Wooster (248th overall in 24+ seasons).  Congratulations, coach!  As usual, Wooster was led by sophomores Kym Wenz (24 pts., including 5/7 shooting from the arc, along with 7 rebounds and 4 steals) and Kaitlin Krister (18 points, 9/14 shooting), with an additional contribution from first-year Taylor Keegan, 5/6 from the floor including 4/4 from downtown for 16 points, a new career high.  Overall, the Scots were one hoop shy of 50%, and one hoop better than 50% from the arc, while holding Ursuline to 37.5% shooting, including a chilly 28% in the second half.  Wooster is now 3-4 and is off until their year-ending boondoggle trip to Kalamazoo (who needs the Bahamas, anyway? ) where they'll face Rose-Hulman and the homestanding Hornets.

Elsewhere,
Bluffton 78, Oberlin 53.  The Beavers forced 28 turnovers, and at the other end nailed a school-record 14 treys, outscoring the Yeowomen by 33 from the arc.  Oberlin was led by twin 10-point outings by Liz Thompson and Roneisha Kinney.

[David Collinge]

Today's schedule:
Wittenberg at DePauw has been postponed and rescheduled for Monday (12/17) at 3pm.
Earlham at Anderson has been postponed; no make-up date has been announced

Denison 78, IU-Southeast 76 (at Hanover)
Denison (4-4) had a 12-point lead at the half and held off their hot-shooting NAIA foes to grab the win.  The Big Red got a Big Game from their Big Post, Carolyn Simpson, with 19 points and 11 boards.  First-year Haley Dahlgard (6'1") added 16, while Ellen O'Brien and Leslie Marshall chipped in 10 apiece.  DU hot better than half of their shots (51.7%) and outrebounded the Grenadiers 35-26, helping to overcome 20 turnovers.

Hiram 63, LaRoche 60.
Hiram (2-7) held a 13-point lead with 20:03 left, but the Redhawks (7-2) were able to eat away at the lead until they tied the game inside the final minute.  However, the Terriers stabilized and held off LaRoche from the free throw line.  Hiram outshot (45.8% to 38.6%) and outrebounded (33 to 22) their hosts, but committed twice as many turnovers (22 to 11) leading to a 24-2 Redhawk advantage in points off turnovers.  Hiram's superior depth was the difference, as Hiram had 11 players score and held a 20 point advantage in bench points.

[David Collinge]

Hanover defeats Denison 80-76 in overtime this afternoon at Hanover.

Denison trailed from the time I tuned in (midway through the 1st) until about 4:00 left in the game, when they took and held the lead.  However, Hanover forced a turnover and drained a three with about 0:25 left, tying the game at 67.  Leslie Marshall failed on a game-winning shot just prior to the horn, but scored 7 of DU's 9 points in the overtime.  Hanover, holding a two-point lead, missed a free throw with 0:51 left in the OT, but got the offensive rebound, killed some clock, missed another shot, and got another offensive rebound.  Carolyn Simpson was then forced to foul (out), and the Panthers cashed in on the free throws for the final margin.  Denison drops to 4-5. 

[David Collinge]

While updating my schedule for the Top 25, I ran across a familiar name a couple of times:  Wittenberg.

The Tigers (2-1) have a chance to make some national noise this week, with a weather-delayed game at #7 DePauw on Monday afternoon followed by a Wednesday matchup with unbeaten and tenth-ranked Thomas More at Pam Evans Smith Arena. 

Other NCAC games this week:
Earlham (2-5) has a busy week, hosting Kalamazoo Monday and Ohio Northern Saturday, sandwiching a game at Heidelberg on Wednesday.  Plus Earlham has to try to find a date to play their postponed game at Anderson.
Allegheny (3-5) has the only other action this week, traveling to Westminster on Thursday.

Everyone else is off until at least the year's final weekend, when Allegheny, Kenyon, Wooster, and OWU participate in tournaments in Cleveland, Columbus, Kalamazoo, and South Padre Island, respectively.  "One of these things is not like the other one..."

[David Collinge]

DePauw 92, Wittenberg 69

Witt had the game tied as late as 14:16 of the second half, but DPU scored the next 12 and 23 of the next 28 for the victory in the weather-delayed matchup of Tigers.  Katie Gregorevich led all scorers with 24 on 9/13 shooting.  DPU held significant statistical advantages in rebounding (48-35), turnovers (12-21), and second half shooting (58.8% to 37.5%).

Kalamazoo 84, Earlham 77 (OT)

Tied at the half, and tied again at the end of regulation, Earlham was unable to make a field goal in the overtime and fell at home.  Senior guard Samantha Lurie had a huge game with 29 points and 12 boards, 5 of them offensive.  Sophomore guard Shontavia Davis added 20 points, 11 of them from the free throw line.  Earlham outrebounded the Hornets 48-43, but committed 25 turnovers and shot just 36.4%.

[David Collinge]

Thomas More 56, Wittenberg 53

Witt fought hard in a game that was nearly stastically even and was back and forth for the last 10 minutes.  It came down to Katie Gardner at the line, down two with 0:02.x left, but she missed the first.  After a timeout to set up the what-do-we-do-now play, she was victimized by a teammate's lane violation, forcing Victoria Leali to foul TMC's Alex Gee on the inbound.  She made one, and the desperation three to tie was off the top of the backboard.

It was a defensive struggle, with more turnovers (42, 21 each) than made baskets (39, 1 hoop advantage to Witt).  Witt shot 32.8% but held TMC to 35.8% and outrebounded their unbeaten opponents by 7, 45-38.  The difference was in three-pointers made (4 to 2) and free throws made (14 to 11), just more evidence that the game could have gone either way.  Katie Gregorivich led the Tigers with 18 points and 9 rebounds; first-time starter Katherine Hueter failed to score, but grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.   A tough loss, but a great effort from Coach Jurewicz and the Tigers.

Heidelberg 78, Earlham 50

The 'Berg led by double figures for the final 30 minutes as they coast to the victory in Tiffin.  Earlham shot 33.3%, committed 19 turnovers, and was outrebounded by an eye-popping 26 boards (57-31), which is not a recipe that will produce many wins.  Earlham's scoring, such as it was, was balanced, with all six who scored tallying between 7 and 10 points.  EC falls to 2-7 on the season, while Heidelberg, which earlier this season beat Hiram by 25, improves to 4-4.

[David Collinge]

Allegheny 65, Westminster 60

The Gators led this one pretty much wire to wire, leading at the half by 7.  Westminster got back to even midway through the second half, and never trailed by more than 5 down the stretch, but the Gators were not going to be headed and pulled out the road win.  Allegheny scored its last 10 points from the free throw line, canning 18/20 on the evening.  Stephanie Wolf scored 16 (8-8 from the line) and pulled down 10 boards.  Emilie Simone led 'Gheny with 19 points.  Both teams shot 42.x%, with 'Gheny grabbing 4 more boards than the Titans.  Allegheny improves to 4-5 on the season.

[David Collinge]

Ohio Northern 73, Earlham 59

Earlham kept it reasonably close throughout, which is not bad against a 9-2 team that beat Kenyon by 11 and OWU by 17.  Whitney McBurrows had 18 to lead the 2-8 Quakers.

Happy holidays to all!

[David Collinge]

Around the NCAC tonight:
Ohio Wesleyan 74, Adrian 67 (at South Padre Island, Tex.)
St. Mary's (IN) 77, Kenyon 66 (at Otterbein)
Calvin 79, Allegheny 47 (at Baldwin-Wallace)
Carnegie Mellon 78, Wittenberg 74 (at Wittenberg)

Tomorrow's games:
OWU vs. Ripon (at S. Padre Is.)
Franklin vs. Kenyon (at Otterbein)
Hanover vs. Allegheny (at B-W)
Manchester at Wittenberg
Wooster vs. Rose-Hulman (at Kalamazoo)
Muskingum at Denison
Hiram at Lake Erie

[David Collinge]

Good news:
Ohio Wesleyan 59, Ripon 38 (at S. Padre Island)...OWU grabs the South Padre Island Shootout title in a blowout.
Kenyon 65, Franklin 58 (at Otterbein)...Anne Dugan went wild for about 7 second-half minutes, dominating both ends of play, and that was the difference in a game that was essentially tied for the other 33 minutes. 

Bad news (the less said about these, the better):
Muskingum 69, Denison 49 (at Denison)
Hanover 69, Allegheny 48 (at Baldwin-Wallace)
Lake Erie 88, Hiram 69 (at Lake Erie)
Manchester 61, Wittenberg 52 (at Wittenberg)
Rose-Hulman 64, Wooster 49 (at Kalamazoo)

Wooster takes on Kalamazoo tomorrow afternoon.

[David Collinge]

Wooster 93, Kalamazoo 92 (2 OT, at Kalamazoo)

Wow!  The game was tied at 40 at halftime, but as predicted by the Kzoo radio crew, the Hornets came out flat after the break, and Wooster quickly had a double-digit advantage.  Then Kzoo stepped up the pressure and whittled away at the lead until they caught the Scots with 1:17 remaining.  After an exchange of threes, the game went to overtime.  The hosts scored the first four points of the first overtime, but failed to seal the deal at the free throw line.  Kzoo then scored the first five points of the second OT, and held that lead until first-year Taylor Keegan drained a three with 0:06 remaining to give the Scots the victory.

It seems to be a fitting end to a game that saw the Fighting Scots nail an amazing sixteen treys in 29 attempts (55.2%), including four of six in the overtimes.  Meredith Wilson set a school record with seven threes, leading to 24 points.  Kym Wenz was 4 of 5 from the arc and had a team-best 30 points and 8 rebounds.  Keegan, a first-year, chipped in 15 on 4/7 long-ball shooting, including the game winner.  The Kzoo side of the ledger was dominated by Nyemade Cooper, who set school records for rebounds (22, including 12 on the offensive glass) and free throw attempts (23) and makes (15).  You could say she had a triple-double, with 33 points, 12 offensive rebounds, and 10 defensive rebounds. 

Overall, Wooster shot 46.7%, with the imbalance of 41.3% inside the arc and 55.2% outside it, while holding the Hornets to 36.1% (52% in the first half, but just 27.7% thereafter).  Kzoo dominated the glass, 54-38, and committed 10 fewer fouls; in fact, Wooster had two players foul out.  Kzoo held a 27-point advantage from the free throw line, but it was not quite enough to overcome Wooster's 30-point edge in three-pointers.

Wooster improves to 4-5 on the season, and will tip off 2008 in Granville on Friday against the defending conference champion Denison Big Red.