After having it's two-game winning streak ended Saturday, the Wilmington women's basketball team looks to get back on the smiling side of the scoreboard as they travel to Otterbein 7:30 p.m. Wednesday for an Ohio Athletic Conference meeting.
Otterbein (5-8 overall, 1-5 OAC) comes into the game losers in six of its last eight games after falling at home to Capital.
"They are a typically good OAC-type team," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "They are good enough to beat anyone in our league. They took Baldwin Wallace to the wire last week, and we have to be at our best in order to win the game."
The Cardinals are getting a lot of production from their post players, junior Tabatha Piper and sophomore Amariah Huck. However, the ability to defend ball screens could be the determining factor.
"They have a great point guard in Chelsea Reed, and they run a huge amount of ball screens for her," said Scheve. "She creates a lot of action for their post players, and the posts work extremely well together. (The post players) can both score from outside and inside. Both are strong on the block and can go outside to create shots off the dribble.
"We tell our players all the time that ball screens are the simplest part of the game in one aspect and the most complicated in another. What way to start out defending ball screens, we typically change at some part of the game; and with Otterbein that will be the case as well."
Reed leads the team with 63 assists, and only recorded more turnovers than assists in three games this season. In addition to her ability to distribute effectively, Reed is third on the team in scoring with 10.1 points per game.
Piper, who is one of two women's basketball players ranked in the top five in both scoring and rebounding, leads the Cardinals. She is third in the OAC in scoring with 14.1 points per game, and second in rebounding with 9.8 boards per contest. Piper – who has reached double figures in every game this season - is shooting 50 percent (66-of-132) from the field and had a team-high 10 blocks.
Huck has scoring at least 10 points in eight of the last nine games, including a career-high 22 against Colorado College. On the season, she is averaging 13.1 points and 5.4 rebounds, both of which are second on the team.
Otterbein has struggled this season from beyond the arc, making just 23 percent (35-of-152) of their attempts with Cheyenne Hartley-Carr being the most accurate option. The freshman is 10-of-30 from three-point range, while junior Madie Miller leads the team with 39 attempts – making seven.