Sophomore Kirsten Glick came up with possibly the two biggest rebounds of her young career late in the game enabling the Wilmington College women's basketball team to defeat Otterbein Wednesday, 63-58, in Ohio Athletic Conference action at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court.
In a one possession game, Wilmington pulled down three offensive rebounds which ended up extending a critical possession in the final two minutes of the game. After senior Haley Howard (Uhrichsville, OH/New Philadelphia) missed a pair of free throws with WC leading by just three, Glick (Arcadia, OH/Arcadia) found a way to come down with the offensive board. On the possession, junior Courtney Tucker (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) went to the foul line and connected on one-of-two, but Glick was able to keep the ball with the home team by securing another offensive rebound.
Tucker headed to the line again, and made just one-of-two, but this time she was able to pull down her own miss and get the putback layup. Wilmington scored four points over the course of the one-minute possession to seal the victory. WC outrebounded the Cardinals, 41-35, in the game.
"There are going to be several games a year that will come down to made free throws down the stretch, and there typically is a game that is going to come down to getting a rebound on a missed free throw," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Schve. "That is something we work on, we executed it tonight and that was really the difference in the game."
Glick, a 5-8 post player, finished with a career-high seven rebounds – five of them offensive, and six points.
"She is playing better and better lately, and she has earned her playing time," said Scheve. "She was a starter for us early in the year, got injured, missed a lot of time, and has been able to work herself back into the rotation."
Her performance off the bench was a part of 34 points from the Wilmington reserves as they outscored their counterparts, 34-7. The bench production also made up for the fact WC didn't have a single player reach double figures.
It was the reserves that turned the game into Wilmington's favor in the first half. Freshman Brittaney Jefferson (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) and Tucker scored eight of 10 points during a 10-0 run that pushed the lead to 12.
A 9-0 spurt by the Cardinals early in the second half pulled Otterbein to within striking distance. However, seemingly every time they got to within one possession, Wilmington answered with a basket to keep them at bay.
With neither team hitting from distance, the teams combined to shoot 5-of-32 from three-point land, freshman Hannah Haeseker's (Germantown, OH/Valley View) three-pointer with about five minutes remaining doubled WC lead. The Fightin' Quakers withstood one more OC push and rebounded themselves to the victory.
The Fightin' Quakers took advantage of Otterbein miscues by scoring 19 points over 13 turnovers. In constrast, Wilmington committed just eight turnovers and they turned into just four points for the Cardinals.
Wilmington (12-10 overall, 9-6 OAC) snapped a two-game losing streak, and will host John Carroll 3 p.m. Saturday in the final regular season home game for four seniors.