Manchester Slips Past Scots in Championship Game

WOOSTER, Ohio - Behind the all-around play of senior forward Kelley Meiklejohn, Manchester College (2-0) concluded the 13th edition of the Nan Nichols Classic with a narrow 64-60 victory over The College of Wooster (1-1) in the championship game inside Timken Gymnasium. The Spartans win their first Nan Nichols title, while the host Scots were denied the opportunity to notch their fourth championship. In the consolation final, Bethany College (1-1) defeated the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford (0-3) by a 76-73 score.

Against the Scots, the Spartans opened with a 10-2 run to start the game. Wooster answered with a 12-2 run of its own, and held a 14-12 advantage with 6:56 left in the opening stanza. The two teams traded points and were tied at 24-24 with 1:44 remaining, but the Spartans closed out the half on an 8-3 run for a 32-27 halftime lead.

Wooster cut the Manchester advantage to two at 32-30 with 18:45 left on a pair of free throws by senior Meredith Wilson, but the Spartans rattled off a 29-9 run that spanned 9:15 of play behind six points apiece from Meiklejohn and Toni Hayward and led 61-39 with 9:30 left.

Wooster tried to battle back behind the play of Kym Wenz, in the late stages of the game, rattling off a huge 19-1 run behind 11 of Wenz's game-high 17 points during the stretch, and cut the Spartan advantage to four at 62-58 with 1:49 left. However, Manchester's defense held firm, as the Scots were unable to come any closer in the tough defeat.

In addition to her 17 points, Wenz racked up three rebounds, and three steals on the day, landing her a spot on the all-tournament team. Junior Kaitlin Krister was also selected to the all-tournament squad recording her second double-double in as many days with a 12-point, career-high 15 rebound performance on Sunday, after a 19-point, 11-rebound showing Saturday. Wilson tallied eight points and four rebounds on the day, while freshman Keshia Butler came off the bench and added seven points and a team-best four assists for the Scots.

Meiklejohn was named the Most Outstanding Player after netting a team-high 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. For the weekend, the senior averaged 23.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals. Joining Meiklejohn on the all-tournament squad was Sarah Bose and Kailey Honn. Bose tallied eight points, four rebounds, five steals and six assists against the Scots after scoring 11 points, collecting three rebounds, five steals and three assists in the opener against Bethany and was named the tournament's Defensive Most Valuable Player. Honn posted eight points on Sunday, and recorded a team-high four blocks in the win over the Bison on Saturday.

In the day's first game, Bethany bounced back from a tough loss to Manchester with a victory over Pitt-Bradford. The Lady Panthers held the lead just one time in the game at 17:30 in the first half following a layup by Whitney Cline, but the Bison turned up the pressure and slowly pulled away, and held a 43-28 bulge at the intermission.

Pitt-Bradford battled all the way back, eventually cutting the lead to two (73-71) following a pair of layup by Danielle Zeamer with :31 left, but a free throw by Bethany's Annie Wilson sealed the victory, as a three-point attempt by Pitt-Bradford's Katie Moore failed to find the bottom of the net.

Moore was the Lady Panthers' high-scorer with 18 points coming on the heels of a 20-point, 10-rebound performance on Saturday, landing her on the all-tournament team. Zeamer and Cline added 15 and 11 points, respectively.

For the Bison, Kaitlin McCormick tallied 20 points during the weekend's two games to garner all-tournament honors, while Kelly Goode was high-scorer on Sunday with 18 points and tacked on four steals.