Wooster falls in NCAC Opener

GRANVILLE – Alyssa Chritz reached double figures in scoring for the second consecutive game as The College of Wooster women's basketball team fell 68-58 to Denison University on Wednesday in its North Coast Athletic Conference opener.

Chritz's 14 points was a new career-high for the sophomore, who also added six rebounds. Senior Jenna Stanton tied a season-high with 13 points and seven rebounds. Senior Krista English added support with eight points and six rebounds, while first-year Maia Doescher reached a new career-high with eight points.

Denison had two players collect double doubles. Hannah Wynn scored a game-high 16 points and added 13 rebounds. Mikaila Carpenter followed with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Cara Harty was a spark off the bench for the Big Red, scoring 12 points.

Denison opened the game on a 7-0 run until Stanton broke the lid off the rim with a 3-pointer just under four minutes into the contest.

Wooster closed the first quarter with a 8-2 run, which was sparked by another 3-pointer from Stanton as Wooster only trailed 17-15 after the first 10 minutes. Stanton scored eight of her 13 points in the quarter.

Wooster saw its only lead in the second quarter following a 3-pointer from Chritz to make it 20-19. It lasted just 19 seconds as Denison answered with a 3-pointer of their own from the other end.

Denison would slowly start to creep away before back-to-back buckets from English and Stanton made it a two-point deficit. Denison, however, would grow its lead to 38-32 at halftime.

The third played even for both teams, but Denison would grow its lead to double digits early in the fourth. A Stanton 3-pointer pulled Wooster to within six with 3:49 remaining, but that was the closest Wooster would get for the remainder of the game.

Denison (2-5, 1-0 NCAC) shot 38 percent (24-of-64) to Wooster's 31 percent (20-of-64) from the floor. Wooster shot over 70 percent (12-of-17) from the charity stripe, while Denison shot 54 percent (15-of-28).

Denison's decisive edge by from outscoring the Scots in second chance points, 20-3. They also outscored Wooster 34-24 in the paint and outrebounded them 57-36.

Wooster drops to 1-6 overall and 0-1 in the NCAC. They will host nationally ranked DePauw University in Timken Gymnasium on Saturday.