The Wilmington College women's basketball is ready to put the end of the regular season behind them and focus on making a run in the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament. After falling to Mount Union in the regular season finale, the Fightin' Quakers have lost three straight and seven of the last eight.
Wilmington starts its run 7:30 p.m. Monday at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court by hosting Heidelberg. The Fightin' Quakers swept the season series, winning at home 80-51 on January 4, and then knocked off the Student Princes 75-68 on February 1.
Five different players averaged double figures in the pair of games, led by senior Haley Howard (Uhrichsville, OH/New Philadelphia) – who averaged 16.5 points with nine rebounds and seven assists.
The inside tandem of senior Makenzie Wippel (Orient, OH/Westfall) and freshman Hannah Haeseker (Germantown, OH/Valley View) controlled the inside by combining for 25 points and 15.5 rebounds.
Freshman Brittaney Jefferson (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) recorded 10.5 points with six steals and junior Spencer Robles (Clyde, OH/Clyde) added 10.0 points with eight rebounds.
Even with all of double-figure scorers, junior Courtney Tucker (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) may be the most important player on the court. Tucker will be charged with the task of slowing down the league's second leading scorer Kathleen Phillips.
In the two games, Phillips is the only Heidelberg players in double figures – averaging 24.5 points per game. The senior guard scored 20 points in the first game and added 29 points in the second meeting, a game in which Tucker missed. However, slowing down a dynamic scorer like Phillips is a one-person job.
"We will have to play good team defense on Phillips, but she is far from a one-person show," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "We will have to be ready to play, and I have faith that we will be."
Freshman Carli Patrick is second on the team with 9.6 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds. In the two Wilmington games, she is averaging 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds.
