WBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Leading by just two at the half, SUNY-Geneseo nearly doubled up Wooster in the second period and romped to the Nan Nichols Classic title with a 66-46 victory.  The Scots shot the ball well in the first 20:00, hitting at a 46% clip, but then went ice cold after halftime, making just 8 second-half shots in 27 attempts.  Geneseo wasn't much better, hitting just 31% for the game, but they got 18 more attempts, thanks to Wooster's courteous 26 turnovers.  Keshia Butler led all scorers with 14, while Jessica Wingen led the Scots with 11 boards.

NCAC falls to 11-8 on the non-conference season.

[fantastic50]

The Wooster-Geneseo game was closer than what the final score would indicate.  It was tied with less than eight minutes remaining, but the Knights had a 20-0 run to close the game.  Junior guard Keshia Butler has a nice game, leading the Scots with 14 points, and also had 5 assists.  Butler and freshman guard Karley Walker (who scored a team-high 17 yesterday against Thiel) both made the all-tournament team.  While I don't Scots contending in the NCAC this year, they do look better than expected at this point in the season, given their inexperience.

[David Collinge]

Tuesday games:

Kenyon at Ohio Northern, 5:30pm -- Live stats
Allegheny at Washington & Jefferson, 6:00pm -- no coverage
Denison at Trine, 6:00pm -- Audio
Bluffton at Oberlin, 7:00pm -- Video and live stats
Heidelberg at Ohio Wesleyan, 7:00pm -- Live stats
Capital at Wittenberg, 7:00pm -- Audio and live stats

[David Collinge]

Scores:

Allegheny 77, W&J 73
ONU 73, Kenyon 58
Bluffton 68, Oberlin 51
OWU 77, Heidelberg 76
Capital 72, Wittenberg 64
Denison 64, Trine 29 

3-3 on the evening, 14-11 on the season.

Next games are not until Saturday--Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[David Collinge]

Saturday games, featuring everyone but Wittenberg, including Hiram's season opener:

Oberlin at Earlham, 1pm -- audio and live stats
Carnegie Mellon at Denison, 2pm -- audio and live stats
Hiram at Westminster, 2pm -- live stats
Chatham at Kenyon, 2pm -- video, audio, and live stats
Allegheny at St. Vincent, 6pm -- video
Ohio Wesleyan at Caltech, 7pm -- no coverage
Wooster vs. Washington & Jefferson (at Marietta), 8pm -- video and live stats

[David Collinge]

Oberlin 85, Earlham 68 -- Could Allison Anderson be the best player in the NCAC?  Today's line: 19 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds.
Denison 91. CMU 44 -- Where does one begin?  DU hit nearly 60% of their shots, +16 on the glass, four players in double figures, etc. etc.
Kenyon 68, Chatham 45 -- 1-2 punch of post players Kayla Ernst (17 & 6) and Morgan Korinek (12 & 8) too much
Hiram 67, Westminster 64 (OT) -- Terriers never trailed in regulation, but Titans scored the last five points to force OT.  Jessica Cowan had 25 pts. and 9 boards to lead Hiram to the win in their season opener.
St. Vincent 70, Allegheny 33 -- Any hope of an NCAC Clean Sweep Saturday were dashed when the Gators were held scoreless for the first 9:48 of the second half.
OWU 81, Caltech 55 -- No details yet, but I was anticipating a larger margin than "just" 26 here.
Washington & Jefferson 69, Wooster 54 -- W&J gets their first win of the campaign by forcing 27 turnovers and holding the Scots to 35% shooting.  Wooster will face host Marietta in the consolation game tomorrow.

A robust 5-2 on the day.    NCAC composite record: 19-13.  

[David Collinge]

Sunday's games:

Wooster at Marietta, 1pm -- Video and live stats
Chatham at Denison, 2pm -- Audio and live stats
Penn St. Behrend at Hiram, 2pm -- live stats
Carnegie Mellon at Kenyon, 2pm -- Video, audio, and live stats
Ohio Wesleyan at Occidental, 5pm -- live stats

[David Collinge]

Marietta 93, Wooster 77 -- This game was won at the line, where the Pioneers converted 34 Wooster fouls into 39 points, an advantage of 26 points.  Wooster got balanced scoring with three in double figures led by Suvi Puripattarapan with 15.  
Hiram 72, Penn St.-Behrend 66 -- Down by 13 early on, the Terriers patiently crawled back into the game and held off the Lions for the win.  Jessica Cowan had a second big game in two days, notching 21 points and nine boards.
Denison 51, Chatham 46 -- The Big Red struggled with a team that was flattened by Kenyon yesterday, but hung on for the victory.  DU survived a miserable 30% shooting afternoon and uncharacteristically had 15 turnovers vs. just seven assists.
Kenyon 78, Carnegie Mellon 68 -- The Ladies struggled with a team that was crushed by Denison yesterday, trailing for much of the afternoon before pulling away late for the deceptive ten-point victory margin.  Four Ladies reached double figures, led by Morgan Korinek's 19.
Occidental 64, Ohio Wesleyan 58 -- Like Hiram, OWU got into a deep hole early on, with the Tiger lead extending to 18 shortly after halftime.  Unlike Hiram, the Bishops were unable to bring it all the way back, snapping their three-game winning streak.  Pam Quigney and Kayla Gordon contributed 20 and 18 points, respectively, as well as nine rebounds apiece.  

Some nervous moments, but a winning day overall at 3-2, bringing the conference tally to a gratifying 22-15.

[David Collinge]

Just one game Monday, as Allegheny travels deep into coal oil country to take on Pitt-Bradford for a 7pm tip.  No live coverage.

------------------------

This just in from the home of Marilyn Horne and Zippo lighters: Allegheny 70, UPB 68.  Sounds like it was a good one, but alas! I am bereft of details.

With Wooster and Hiram set to tip off conference play on Wednesday, the suddenly formidable NCAC sits at a composite 20-13.  Who needs DePauw? 

[David Collinge]

Wednesday games:
Conference:
Hiram at Wooster, 6:00pm -- live stats
Non-conference:
Otterbein at Oberlin, 6:00pm -- audio/video and live stats
Wittenberg at Mt. Union, 7:00pm -- audio and live stats
John Carroll at Allegheny, 7:30pm -- live stats
Case Western Reserve at Kenyon, 7:30pm -- video, audio, and live stats

[David Collinge]

Five Minutes with Morgan Korinek.

[David Collinge]

Hiram 62, Wooster 58...Scots drop the conference home opener, a game that Wooster actually led by 17 at one point. The Scots led by 11 before going into a nearly 8 minute second-half scoring drought, during which time Hiram turned a 39-28 deficit into a 45-39 lead, and the Scots never led again.  Reigning NCAC Player of the Week Jess Cowan was held to just two points, but Calysia Smyers picked up the slack with 17 points.

Elsewhere, the OAC dominated our heroines tonight, but Kenyon topped a former OAC/former NCAC opponent:
Otterbein 77, Oberlin 45
Mt. Union 75, Wittenberg 62
John Carroll 88, Allegheny 82
Kenyon 58, CWRU 47

Current NCAC standings:
Hiram 1-0
Allegheny 0-0
Denison 0-0
Kenyon 0-0
Oberlin 0-0
Ohio Wesleyan 0-0
Wittenberg 0-0
Wooster 0-1

NCAC non-conference record: 21-16

[David Collinge]

One non-conference game this afternoon, tipping in about 30 minutes:

OWU vs. Elmhurst, 3pm (at Washington U. in St. Louis) -- video and live stats

---------------------

Elmhurst comes away with the victory over the road-weary Bishops, 64-54.   The Blue Jays dominance of the glass (+25, including 21 offensive boards) which led to an 18-point advantage in points in the paint, was too much to overcome.  Tyler Cordell led OWU with 21 points.

NCAC composite: 21-17.

[David Collinge]

One more conference opener tomorrow, and a nearly full slate of non-cons:

NCAC contest:
Wittenberg at Allegheny, 1pm -- Audio and live stats
By the way, let me interrupt this message to give kudos to Wittenberg's SID operation.  Several conference members don't provide any live coverage for their women's team, while Witt has a radio crew for all games home and away.  Bravo!

Non-cons:
Carnegie Mellon at Oberlin, 1pm -- Video and live stats
Denison at Case Western Reserve, 2pm -- no coverage
Hiram at Marygrove (MI), 2pm -- live audio
Kenyon at Baldwin-Wallace, 2pm -- Audio and live stats
Ohio Wesleyan vs. U. of New England, 3pm (at Washington U. in St. Louis) -- video and live stats
Wooster is idle

[David Collinge]

Tipoff of the CMU/Oberlin game is evidently being delayed by the non-presence of the officials.  Overheard on the webcast: the officials thought the game was scheduled for 7pm.  This could be a lengthy delay...!

UPDATE:  Okay, it looks like we're set to start now.  The officials make their first appearance on the court, and receive an ovation from the fans in attendance.  Unfortunately (for me), the delay means I'll be off to work before this one is complete.