The Wilmington College women's basketball team allowed the last eight points of the game, and fell to Trine University, 61-53, Sunday in the championship game of the 2016 Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament, sponsored by Austin's Eatery and Hampton Inn.
Wilmington is now 5-3 in Raizk championship games, and falls to 5-7 overall. The Fightin' Quakers return to action 3 p.m. Saturday, traveling to Mount Union in Ohio Athletic Conference action.
In a game that featured eight ties and seven lead changes, Wilmington's offense went cold over the final 5:24 of the game. The Fightin' Quakers were outscored 15-4 during the five-plus minute stretch of the game, and Trine took full advantage.
Trine's game-ending scoring spree came on the heels of a 9-0 WC run that transformed a six-point deficit into a three-point Wilmington lead. Four different players scored to aid in the offensive shift. But as quickly as the Fightin' Quakers appeared to have the momentum, "Uncle Mo" hopped back to the white-clad visitors to end the game.
"I thought we had some enormous defensive breakdowns in the last three minutes of the game where they got easy layups, and we couldn't score when we needed to," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "But overall, I was proud of what we accomplished this weekend."
To have a chance at the end was a tribute to how WC fought back from a sluggish beginning. Wilmington shot just 2-of-13 with six turnovers in the first period to trail by five.
"I was really disappointed in how we started the game," said Scheve. "We were playing at half speed, going through the motions, and that is not who we are and can't be who we are. Luckily we stay within range of them, and then got to playing in the second quarter."
Wilmington got back in the game from unlikely sources as freshmen De'Jah Locke (Cincinnati, OH/Mother of Mercy) and Courtney Hillis (Springboro, OH/Springboro) combined for 10 of Wilmington's 13 points. Hillis, playing in her first extended action since transferring from Trine two weeks ago, was 3-for-4 from the field.
The second period wasn't the lone 10-minute session that WC received offensive contributions from different sources. Junior Ja'Cole Tabor (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) tallied a career-high 10 points, and the WC reserves finished with 17 points off the bench.
"Some of those players are playing out of necessity right now, and it's great to see them step up like that," said Scheve. "Ja'Cole is starting to play consistently well for us. I thought (Alexandria Kingsbery) played well for us and Courtney (Hillis) gave us a huge lift in the second period when we were struggling to score.
"We have some very, very inexperience players at some very key positions," Scheve continued. "We obviously make way too many mistakes to be where we want to be, but at the same time, we have really improved some areas. Our rebounding and our defense, for the most part, are solid enough for us to win. We have to control turnovers and bad shots, which are like turnovers. We make too many of both of them, and we are going to continue to work at it."
Junior Brittaney Jefferson (Wilmington, OH/Chaminade Julienne) finished with a team-high 12 points, five rebounds and tied a career-high with five assists, while classmate Mary Moyer (Martinsville, OH/Clinton Massie) added nine points and 11 rebounds. Both were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts.
