Rachel Collins

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women's basketball team jumped out to a 21-point halftime lead, and then fended off a second-half surge by Earlham College, to notch an exciting 91-81 win Saturday afternoon during the Nan Nichols Classic at Timken Gymnasium.

The Fighting Scots (1-0) held a 50-29 cushion at the break, but the Quakers (0-1) chipped away at the scoreboard to pull within one, 80-79, with just over four minutes remaining in regulation.

It was at that juncture the Scots went on a game-clinching 7-0 scoring run, as Sydney Failing sunk a pair of free throws, Karley Walker knocked down a jumper, and Rachel Collins completed an old-fashioned three-point play to give Wooster an eight-point lead (87-79), which it added to in the closing ticks to create its 10-point margin of victory.

Wooster led comfortably throughout most of the first half, but it was a 59-second spurt by Collins that really broke the game open. Collins scored a bucket in the paint at the 7:32-mark, then came down and sunk a 3-pointer at 7:06, and finally, Suvi Puripattarapan stole the ball and dished it up court to Collins, and the latter made a lay-up (6:33), giving the newcomer seven points in less than a minute, and Wooster a 17-point advantage (31-14).

Another boost came from Sydney Grier, as she hit a pair of 3-pointers just 42 seconds apart, with the second one putting Wooster ahead by 22 (46-24) with 1:50 left in the first half.

Wooster took its biggest lead of the game at the onset of the second half, when Paige Fabry scored inside the paint to make it a 24-point game (55-31), but Earlham put together an impressive rally during the middle-parts of the stanza, before the Scots closed the door down the stretch.

The 91 points scored by Wooster are its most since it scored 93 against Kalamazoo College in 2007, but that game went to double overtime.

Several individuals had noteworthy performances, including Maura Hall, who double-doubled with a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Walker was also key, as she scored 15 points, with nine coming at the free throw line (9-for-10). She also added six assists, four blocks, and two steals.

Three other Scots reached double-figures in scoring, as Lauren Hancher turned in 15 points, while newcomers Failing (13) and Collins (10) were next in line.

As a team, Wooster was lights out from the charity stripe, where it made 30-of-34 attempts (88.2 percent), the third-most free-throw makes in a single game in team history.

Earlham's Raven Bryant-Williams did all she could to help the Quakers, as she scored a game-high 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field.

Earlier in the afternoon, University of Mount Union breezed past Thiel College 98-42 to open the Nan Nichols Classic. Tomorrow, Mount Union will take on Earlham at 1 p.m., and then Wooster hosts Thiel at 3 p.m., or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.