Sydney Failing

For the first time in 50 games, The College of Wooster was held without a 3-point field goal, as Denison University took away one of the Fighting Scots' key weapons on its way to a 71-41 victory Saturday afternoon at Granville, Ohio.

The Scots (6-14, 1-11 NCAC) are one of the teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference that are most reliant on the 3-point shot, averaging nearly 20 attempts per game, but the Big Red (16-5, 8-4 NCAC) limited Wooster to just five missed shots from behind the arc in this contest, which surely played a huge factor in the outcome.

It's worth mentioning that Wooster took a similar approach against Denison, as it held the Big Red to 2-for-11 from 3-point range, however, Denison used its strong rebounding advantage (51-31) and 40 points in the paint to overcome its limited long-range attack.

The game was close early on, as Lauren Hancher scored Wooster's initial six points, and Karley Walker added a lay-in that pulled the Scots within two at 10-8. Maura Hall sunk a pair of free throws moments later to make it a three-point game (13-10), but Denison outscored Wooster 23-9 over the last 11 minutes of the first half to take a 36-19 cushion into the break.

The Scots' best stretch was a 10-2 scoring run during the second half that included points from Hancher (4), Walker (4), and Hall (2). That scoring run cut Wooster's deficit to 23 (58-35) with 7:24 left to go, but the Scots were unable to maintain their positive momentum.

Hancher led all scorers with 14 points on 7-for-14 shooting, which marks her 13th game this season where the sophomore standout has shot at least 50.0 percent from the field. Walker and Hall added eight and seven points, respectively, and Sydney Failing was solid off the bench with five points, two rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot.

Jordan Holmes was the driving force for Denison with a double-double of 12 points and 13 boards.

Wooster heads to Hiram College (5-16, 1-11 NCAC) for its last road game of the regular season on Wednesday at 6 p.m.