WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College women's basketball team won the 2022 Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament with a 62-59 overtime victory over Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) at Fred Raizk Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The entire contest was played within all 11-point window as the Quakers' biggest leads was six points and the Battling Bishops' five points. Wilmington's six-point advantage came right at the beginning as the host's opened the game on an 8-2 run capped by consecutive layups from Cassidy Lovett. WC, which would lead 15-10 after one quarter, may have been up by more if not for an 0-of-5 performance from beyond the arc.
OWU began the on an 11-2 run finished by an offensive putback from Karlee Ross. Trailing 21-17, a layup from Marisa Seiler cut the deficit to two points at the 3:43 mark, and after a Jakaia Lotz steal, Kennedy Lewis found Bekah Bowser for the Quakers' first triple of the game. The Bishops, now trailing 22-21, answered with back-to-back triples from Kelsey Wolf and Lauren Denison for their largest lead of the game (27-22) with 1:32 to play in the half. The hosts would make the final basket of the half, however, as Bowser found Lewis on the wing for a triple.
Neither team led by more than a possession the entire third quarter. It wasn't until a Denison jumper two minutes into the fourth quarter that the game would stretch more than a possession difference as OWU took a 46-42 lead on the junior's basket. Lewis scored the next four points to tie it, but the Bishops went back ahead by four (52-48) on another Denison basket with 3:09 to play.
Lewis, who elected to return for her fifth season, once again scored four straight points to tie the game, and after a missed OWU triple, Kyria Walker was fouled driving to the basket with 25 seconds left. The Reynoldsburg High School alumna calmly made both to put the hosts ahead by a deuce. An OWU timeout advance the ball, and it was the Bishops' turn to get fouled driving to the basket as Walker fouled Ross. The big problem for Wilmington – she made the basket. With seven seconds remaining, Ross stepped to the free throw line looked to take the lead, but she missed. The Quakers couldn't corral the loose ball, which allowed for a Kasey Shipfer potential game-winning jumper from the elbow. WC had it well defended, however, and the game went into overtime as the shot was off target.
In the extra session, Wilmington caused a turnover after losing the jump ball, and though a Walker triple from the wing missed, Lewis grabbed the rebound and found Seiler wide open for a layup. Alyssa Griner and Lewis traded two free throws each, but Griner converted the old-fashioned, three-point play with two minutes to go to put OWU up 59-58. The Quakers didn't trail long as another offensive rebound, this one from Lovett, resulted in a wide-open layup to put the hosts back up a point.
Homan misfired on a triple late in the shot clock, and both teams turned it over on their next possession. With a small difference between game and shot clock, the Bishops elected to play defense. It worked as Lewis missed in a three-point shot, but the Springboro, Ohio, native got her own miss for the third offensive rebound of the overtime period for Wilmington.
This time, OWU had to foul, and Lewis made both free throws to put the hosts up 62-59 with two seconds left. Wilmington elected not to foul, but played good defense as a game-tying triple attempt at the buzzer was well off the mark.
"I'm very proud of this team for playing hard and fighting through some stretches where we didn't see the ball go in the hoop," Head Coach Janel Blankespoor said. "We put together our best defensive game of the year to date, and our aggressiveness on the boards won out in the end."
Wilmington, which avenged a 65-45 defeat at OWU last season, held a 42-29 rebounding advantage in the game. Both teams shot between 35-40 percent from the field and under 30 percent from distance, but it was the free throw shooting that pushed the Quakers over the top. WC made three less field goals in the game, but converted 18-of-20 (90 percent) at the charity stripe while the Bishops were 8-for-10 (80 percent).
Individually, Lewis led all scorers with 21 points while completing the double-double with 10 rebounds. Seiler added 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Captain had eight points, five assists and two steals.
OWU, which finished 21-7 a season ago, was led by Denison with 16 points in defeat. Ross and Schipfer also both scored in double figures.
Lewis was named the Tournament MVP and was joined by Captain, Denison, Elena Welker of Albion College and Megan Kalloch of Grove City College on the All-Tournament Team.
Wilmington (3-0), which has won the Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season, closes out a four-game homestand with Kenyon College on Wednesday evening.
