Three players scored in double figures as the Wilmington College women's basketball team advanced to the championship game of the 2016 Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament, sponsored by Austin's Eatery and Hampton Inn with a 65-61 victory over Kenyon Saturday at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court.
Wilmington will play Trine 3 p.m. Sunday for the tournament crown, while Kenyon plays Berea 1 p.m. Sunday in the consolation game.
It was just the second time this season a pair of post players tallied at least 10 points as junior Mary Moyer (Clarksville, OH/Clinton Massie) and sophomore Emily Harman (Versailles, OH/Versailles) scored 11 points each. Moyer pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds, the fourth straight game in which she recorded at least 10 boards. She has five double-figure rebounding performances this season.
"Two post players in double figures, and that has really been a point of emphasis the last couple of days," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "We have to get the ball to our post players, in transition and in our halfcourt offense. We did a little better job of it tonight, and the post players did a better job of running the court and finishing around the basket.
"Emily (Harman) is one of those kids you don't have to worry about," Scheve continued. "You know she is listening to scouting reports, and you know she is going to do what she is supposed to do. You know she is going to guard people and rebound. She is the type of player that makes you better."
Freshman Mackenzie Campbell (Cincinnati, OH/Turpin) led the team in scoring for the fifth straight time, and recorded her third career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Since missing most of the John Carroll game with an injury, and being held scoreless, Campbell is averaging 18.4 points and nine rebounds in the five games since.
For the third straight game, Wilmington punished an opponent on the boards, this time with a margin of plus-17 (51-34). In those three games, the Fightin' Quakers have outrebounded an opponent by an average of 20.3 boards per game. With today's effort, WC now leads the Ohio Athletic Conference with 45.5 rebounds per game, and is third in the league in rebounding margin at plus-8.0.
Junior Brittaney Jefferson (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) distributed a career-high five assists to go along with nine points as Wilmington recorded at least 10 assists for the fourth time this season. The Fightin' Quakers added 15 fastbreak points and 30 points in the paint.
"We are starting to do the things we need to do to win basketball games; pushing the basketball, getting easy baskets, going hard to the offensive boards, getting to the free throw line and keeping our opponent off the free throw line," said Scheve. "Those are the things we constantly stress. It seems like we have improved at it, but much of that is being offset by how careless we are being with the basketball. We need our players to have more disciplined with the ball, and if we can get that, we will be where we want to be."
The Fightin' Quakers took control of the game with a 14-2 run that spanned the end of the first period and halfway through the second. Campbell and Harman combined for 10 of those points as Wilmington never trailed from that point.
Kenyon continued to stay within striking distance of the Fightin' Quakers, but the home team scored nine straight points from the end of the second period and start of the third to take a game-high 13 point advantage.
However, the Ladies wouldn't go away. Immediately on the heels of the aforementioned run, Trine scored 11 of the next 12 points and cut the WC lead to two. The comeback was complete just one minute into the fourth period, but Wilmington never allowed the Ladies to take a lead.
After the game's sixth tie of the game, four different players contributed as Wilmington gave itself some breathing room by scoring 10 of the next 13 points and took a seven-point bulge. The Fightin' Quakers iced the game by shooting 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
