Gritty. Tough. Tenacious. Defensive-minded. Resolute. Determined. Whatever descriptive word you choose, the one that was the most prevailing Monday was winner.
The Wilmington College women's basketball team locked down defensively on back-to-back possessions and persevered to advance in the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament with a 47-45 victory over Marietta at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court.
Wilmington made just 2-of-7 from the free throw line in the last two minutes, and Marietta guard Amisha Heard went on a scoring spree that enabled the Pioneers to erase their six-point deficit in 70 seconds. Heard, who finished with 12 points, scored eight of those during that 70-second stretch. However, almost immediately after Marietta knotted the game at 45, senior Courtney Tucker (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) drew a foul.
After making the first to give WC the lead, she missed the second and Heard grabbed the rebound and raced to the basket. But unlike her four previous ventures down the lane, she was unable to find the bottom of the net – and sophomore Hannah Haeseker (Germantown, OH/Valley View) pulled down her career-high 12th board of the game. Haeseker split a pair of free throws, and the Pioneers had life.
"Hannah was just dominating in the post with her rebounding tonight," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "Having someone dominate the boards inside was a pleasant change for us. It might have been Hannah's best overall game this season."
Once again, the ball was in Heard's hands – and this time, she wasn't able to even get a shot off. Tucker forced the turnover with 0.4 seconds remaining, and the game was sealed with a simple inbounds.
As the final horn sounded, the underlying tone that could be heard reverberating through Fred Raizk Arena was the sigh of relief. Wilmington had literally survived and advanced after starting the game hitting just one of its first 21 shots.
"I thought it felt a lot like Saturday at Mount Union," said Scheve. "We got a lot of good shots and just couldn't make them. What we talked about after Saturday was we have to be a team that wins when we don't make shots. We can only do that by playing good defense and rebounding the basketball. Saturday we gave up 16 offensive rebounds, and only got eight; tonight, we got the 16 (offensive boards). That was huge, and I thought we defended well."
With Wilmington colder than the negative wind chills swirling through campus, Marietta sprinted out to a nine-point lead. It was the Fightin' Quakers' ability to get to the line that was their saving grace in keeping touch with MC.
"We felt that we had to get the ball to the basket against this team, and (Tucker and Jefferson) are the two that can get to the basket for us," said Scheve. "They did a nice job of it tonight, being aggressive and getting to the foul line."
The backcourt tandem combined to shoot 18 of Wilmington's 24 free throws. Tucker and Jefferson were 11-of-18 in the game. As a team, Wilmington was just 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) from the charity stripe.
Once Wilmington was able to pry the lid of the goal, it went on a 14-0 run which was bookended by three-pointers from sophomore Mary Moyer (Martinsville, OH/Clinton-Massie) and freshman Ellie Kivell (Hamilton, OH/Lakota West). Once the spurt was completed, the Fightin' Quakers went from down seven to up seven.
Wilmington maintained its lead for the remainder of the half, and never trailed in the second.
Senior Kirsten Glick (Arcadia, OH/Arcadia) played a pivotal role in WC never relinquishing its advantage. During a two-minute stretch in the second half, with Wilmington hanging on tenuously, Glick pulled down three offensive boards that led to five second-chance points. If not for the inability to seal the deal from the line, Glick's rebounding may have been the biggest plays of the night.
"Kirsten is a player that I am sure if people look at the stat sheets, they wonder why she plays so much," said Scheve. "The reason is she is one of our best players. She does all the little things that a basketball team needs to win basketball games. She is a great defender, she almost never turns the ball over, doesn't force shots and just is a real important element to this basketball team."
Scheve made a point to single out all members of his frontcourt – Haeseker, Glick, Moyer, junior Alexandria Kingsbery (Lima, OH/Central Catholic) and freshman Emily Smith (Bellbrook, OH/Bellbrook) – for their collective play Monday.
Jefferson came off the bench to lead Wilmington with 14 points, while Tucker added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Wilmington, seeded fifth, travels to Bexley 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to face No. 4 Capital in the second round of the OAC Tournament.