WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College women's basketball team, playing without its top two scorers, battled Otterbein University to a narrow 61-57 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) at Fred Raizk Arena on Wednesday evening.
Kennedy Lewis opened the game with five straight points that included a layup off a great pass from Kelis Jones in the final seconds of the shot clock and an old-fashioned, three-point play. Otterbein answered with a 13-5 run fueled by three triples from Angelia Jackson and led 13-9 after one quarter.
The second quarter began as a complete repeat of the first. Cassidy Lovett found Lewis for a layup. After an Otterbein miss, Jones found Lewis for the hoop and the harm to give the Fightin' Quakers a 14-13 advantage. The Cardinals answered with an 8-0 run that spanned four minutes capped by a Bryn Mangold layup at the 4:24 mark.
Trailing 22-18, a Sarah Balliett layup followed by consecutive triples from Brooke Davis fueled a 10-2 run to end the half and give the hosts a 28-24 lead.
The Cardinals, who had scored 13 and 11 points in the first and second quarters respectively, scored 14 points in the first five minutes and went on to equal their first-half total of 24 points in the third quarter alone. The result was Otterbein leading 48-40 after 30 minutes.
The visitors maintained at least a half-dozen point advantage for the first five minutes, but the hosts got aggressive and were rewarded with trips to the free throw line. After making its first 10 free throws, Wilmington only went 3-of-12 during a stretch in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 57-53 Otterbein lead. On the Quakers' next possession, Lewis went baseline and appeared to covert yet another old-fashioned, three-point play, but the hosts were whistled for a questionable offensive foul on a screen.
It would then be Otterbein's turn to miss free throws, however, as the Cardinals bricked four straight to give the Quakers the ball back trailing 60-57 with 14 seconds left. Lewis drove the length of the floor and short-armed a layup, just her second miss of the game. A Jenna Hoschouer free throw that followed sealed the game.
Both teams shot over 40 percent from the field with Otterbein holding an advantage from distance with a 7-of-14 evening while Wilmington made 16-of-26 from the line, 10 more than the visitors. The Quakers won the rebounding battle 31-29 and held a 28-18 edge in points in the paint.
Individually, Lewis led Wilmington with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting while David and Cook also finished in double figures. Katie McCrary poured in 19 points for Otterbein while Jackson and Claire Radabaugh also notched double figures in scoring.
Wilmington continues OAC action at Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday.
