WESTERVILLE –Despite playing without two key seniors, the Wilmington College women's basketball team fought back from a double-digit deficit, took the lead, but fell prey to Otterbein Wednesday 64-58 in Ohio Athletic Conference action at the Rike Center.

"We played very well in the second half," said head coach Jerry Scheve. "The first half was a repeat of our game in Wilmington. We were very passive and didn't get good shots. They really hurt us in transition, which is uncharacteristic for us."

Forward LeAnn Topp (New Bremen, OH/New Bremen) missed her third consecutive game, while guard Shelby Kies (Maineville, OH/Kings) was also unavailable.

Early on Wilmington settled for long jump shots, which led to long rebounds, and enabled the Cardinals to get easy baskets. Otterbein recorded 10 of its 12 fast break points in the opening stanza. The transition baskets helped OC shoot 48.5 percent from the field as they took as 12-point lead into the break.

The Lady Quakers scored the first 13 points of the second half to take its first lead of the game since they opened the game with an opening three.

Sophomore Spencer Robles (Clyde, OH/Clyde) showed remnants of coming out of her shooting slump, making back-to-back three's that started the rally. Senior Bria Eslick (Cleveland Heights, OH/Lutheran East) added five straight points and a lay-up by senior Brianna Peters (Alexandria, KY/Campbell County) pushed WC over the hump.

The teams traded the lead four times with four ties over the next 10 minutes of the second half, but back-to-back three pointers set Otterbein off onto the game-clinching 13-3 spurt. The Lady Quakers helped by shooting just 3-of-8 from the charity stripe during the run.

Eslick recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. Robles added 11 points; marking the first time in seven games she reached more than 10 points. She was coming off back-to-back scoreless outings. Peters chipped in with 10 points and freshman Kirsten Glick (Arcadia, OH/Arcadia) tallied a career-high seven points.

Thanks to Capital's loss to Marietta, Wilmington (13-9 overall, 9-6 OAC) maintained its one-game lead for fourth place. The Lady Quakers travel to John Carroll 3 p.m. Saturday for their final regular season road game of the season.