Wooster Falls on the Road to Nationally-Ranked Tigers

Sophomore Anna Gibbs totaled a game-high 19 points but a collective scoring effort from DePauw University kept the Tigers undefeated in North Coast Athletic Conference play, as No. 13 DePauw topped The College of Wooster's women's basketball team, 85-49, on Saturday afternoon at Neal Fieldhouse in Greencastle, Ind.

Gibbs finished with a game-high 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting while Taylor Howard led DePauw with 11 points on seven shots. Howard stood as one of seven Tigers to finish with at least seven points on the day.

DePauw (19-1, 11-0 NCAC) jumped out to a quick lead with a layup from Sydney Kopp before Gibbs responded with a 3-pointer to give the Fighting Scots (1-18, 0-10 NCAC) their first and only lead of the game.

DePauw regained the advantage with a 13-4 run, capped off by a second-chance layup from Howard to stretch the lead to eight (15-7) before rattling off a period-closing 12-2 run to close the first stanza leading, 27-9.

Notable, Gibbs scored all nine of Wooster's points in the first period on 4-of-5 shooting.

Three minutes into the second, layups from first-year Akwia Tilton bookended a put-back attempt from senior Natalie Coschigano to bring the Scots' deficit to 17 (32-15). Five different Wooster players scored in the period, as the Tigers took a 44-21 lead heading into halftime.

Similar to the first, stifling defense led the Tigers at the start of the second half, as DePauw held Wooster to eight points on 2-of-11 shooting to take a 67-29 lead after three periods.

In the fourth, senior Rachel Collins connected from beyond the arc to open the period's scoring, followed by one of Gibb's three 3-pointers on the day. The Scots outscored the Tigers, 20-18, in the fourth period, led by eight points from Gibbs.

On the day, Tilton and sophomore Christina Vukovich each pulled down a team-high four rebounds, while Tilton dished a team-best three assists.

The Scots return to action next week as they play host to Oberlin College (8-11, 5-5 NCAC) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at Timken Gymnasium.