BEXLEY – So close, yet so far away.

The Wilmington College women's basketball team took the lead with two minutes remaining, but it didn't last long as their season came to an end with a 57-53 loss to Capital in the second round of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament at the Capital Center.

Almost immediately after freshman Brittaney Jefferson (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) gave WC its only lead of the second half, Capital answered with a three-pointer to reclaim its advantage. Senior Makenzie Wippel (Orient, OH/Westfall) tied the game with a lay-up with 90 seconds remaining.

"Brittaney somehow got to the basket to give us the lead and (Steph) Irwin hit a big three from the corner," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "I thought we had her guard pretty good, and I thought we guarded them well all night. Makenzie came back to tie the game, and we just couldn't get the big stop when we needed."

Wilmington had a couple chances to reclaim the lead but missed three-pointers on back-to-back possessions.

"They switched to a zone for three straight possessions," said Scheve. "We scored on the first one and got great looks on the other two. We got wide-open shots on inside/out looks and we just couldn't knock them down. For the second straight night, we couldn't make shots. For our team to hang in there, it's a testament to them as a team. I couldn't ask for anything else out of them."

In the two tournament games, Wilmington was a paltry 1-of-20 from three-point land. Not only did Wilmington struggled with three-pointers, it was just 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from the free throw line.

Wippel and senior Haley Howard (Uhrichsville, OH/New Philadelphia) each tallied 17 points and five rebounds. Jefferson and sophomore Ashley Andracki (Columbus, OH/Bishop Watterson) also pulled down five rebounds each.

"Our seniors really came to floor tonight, and they all contributed," said Scheve. "Haley and Makenzie led us all year long and they both had big games for us. I feel for them, and I feel for this team. They gave everything they had, and I couldn't have asked for more. For a team picked to finish eighth, we proved we could play with any team in this conference. I would have loved to see them take it to the next level, but we weren't quite able to do it."

The Fightin' Quakers finished the season 13-14.