WILMINGTON – The road for the Wilmington College Lady Quakers has gotten increasingly difficult over the last three games as they prepare to travel to No. 4 DePauw Wednesday. After an opening season victory over Bethany, Wilmington fell to No. 12 Hope Sunday and now head to Indiana for its first road test against a Top Five team.
"They are ranked that high for a reason," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "They have good players that run their system well. We will have to be a lot better than we were last weekend to win the game. We have to do a lot better at what we do."
DePauw is coming off two impressive victories in winning the Dunn Sporting Goods Tip-Off Tournament, hosted Wisconsin Lutheran. In the dismantling of Wisconsin-Stout and host Wisconsin Lutheran, the Tigers won by an average of 31 points and shot 45 percent from the field.
Junior Alex Gasaway converted 14-of-19 shots in averaging 15.5 points in the tournament. More impressively, take away her four three-point attempts, and the forward shot a robust 13-of-15. Senior Kate Walker is the only other DePauw player to average double figures, scoring 10.5 points with 7.5 assists.
Junior Alison Stephens and senior Ellie Pearson are doing the bulk of the work on the glass, grabbing nine and six boards, respectively. DePauw holds a plus-13 margin on the board in their two games.
Battling on the glass could be one of the factors in the contest as Wilmington won its game in which it won the rebounding battle, and lost the game they lost the battle on the glass. Of course, its just a small sampling, but controlling the boards are important.
Sophomore Spencer Robles (Clyde, OH/Clyde) came off the bench to tally a team-high 22 points, while shooting 64 percent (7-of-11) from the field. However, as a team, Wilmington converted just 28 percent of its shots in the two games.
Senior Bria Eslick (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East) kicked off the season with her fifth career double-double against Bethany, scoring 18 points with 10 rebounds. She continued her work on the boards with eight rebounds against a bigger Hope team. Junior Haley Howard (Uhrichsville, OH/New Philadelpia) dished out a team-high six assists in her first career starts.
Following Wednesday's meeting with DePauw, the Lady Quakers will host the Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament, sponsored by Hampton Inn and Damon's. The tournament kicks off 6 p.m. Saturday as WC plays Cincinnati-Clermont. The 8 p.m. game features Saint Vincent against Hendrix.