Danielle Besancon

Trailing by eight at the halftime break, The College of Wooster took the lead midway through the second half and never looked back, as the strong play of newcomers Rachel Collins and Danielle Besancon off the bench helped the Fighting Scots net a 57-53 victory over Hiram College on Wednesday evening in a closely-contested North Coast Athletic Conference match-up at Hiram, Ohio.

With the win, the Scots (7-14, 2-11 NCAC) take the lead over the Terriers (5-18, 1-13 NCAC) in the battle for a spot in the NCAC Tournament.

Wooster was down by just one (21-20) with 4:15 remaining in the first half, but Hiram closed out the stanza on a 12-5 scoring run to take a 33-25 lead into the locker room.

The Scots rallied in a big way to start the second half, though, as they produced an 18-4 scoring run that turned an eight-point deficit into a six-point advantage.

Sydney Grier sunk a pair of 3-pointers during that stretch, with her second pulling the Scots within one (37-36), and then Besancon hit her own 3-ball moments later to put Wooster on top for the first time since the middle parts of the first half at 39-37.

Wooster added to its lead, as Besancon dropped in a lay-up to make it 41-37, and then after a steal by Besancon, Lauren Hancher scored in the paint to give the Scots their biggest lead of the game (43-37) to that point.

Hiram did tie the game momentarily at 43-43, until Collins checked in and made her mark, as she drained 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to extend Wooster's lead back to six. The Terriers responded with their own 3-pointer, but Suvi Puripattarapan scored a quick two, and Collins added a lay-in and a jumper to give Wooster a nine-point cushion (55-46) with 2:16 left.

After Hiram drew within four (55-51) at the 1:06-mark, Karley Walker made both ends of a one-and-one in the closing ticks to seal the outcome.

Collins tied for the team-lead with 10 points, which all came in the second half, while Hancher also added 10 tallies to go along with six rebounds and two steals. Next in line was Grier with nine points coming on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc, while Maura Hall also added nine points, all coming at the charity stripe, and a game-high 12 boards.

Besancon totaled six points, three rebounds, and two steals.

Leading Hiram was Kayla Yost with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Wooster will look to make it two in a row when it hosts archrival Wittenberg University (12-9, 7-6 NCAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.