Late Rally Comes Up Just Short as Ursuline Edges Scots

The College of Wooster mounted a late comeback attempt Friday evening against home-standing Ursuline College, but the host Arrows handed the Scots a 66-63 loss in non-conference women's basketball action. The setback drops Wooster's record to 4-8 on the year, while the Arrows improve to 7-7 overall.

After a three-point field goal by Ursuline's Whitney Blackburn gave the hosts a six-point lead (64-58) with 3:23 to play, Samantha Justice scored the next five points for Wooster on a put back off an offensive rebound, and nailed a three-pointer with :52 left, drawing the Scots to within one at 64-63.

On the ensuing possession, Wooster forced Ursuline into a turnover, but during Wooster's following trip down the floor, Justice's shot with :10 left was off the mark, and the Scots were forced to foul to stop the clock. Jessica Wood calmly connected on two charity tosses for the Arrows with four ticks remaining as the visitors comeback bid came up just short.

Ursuline held the lead for the better part of the first half, leading by as many as five (17-12) near the midway point. The Scots jumped back into the game, and took a seven-point advantage (24-17) thanks to a 12-0 run, capped by a jumper by Meredith Wilson at the 6:33 mark.

Over the next 3:27 of play, the home team answered with a 9-3 run, cutting the Wooster edge to just one (27-26), but the Scots pushed that bulge right back out to eight (34-26) finished off on a three-point make from Justice. The Arrows tallied the final four points of the stanza, and Wooster took a 34-30 advantage into the locker room.

Wooster opened the second half by opening the lead to nine (49-40) with just under 12 minutes left on a duo of charity tosses from Taylor Keegan, however, Ursuline outscored Wooster by a 21-6 count over the next 7:13 setting up the final sequence of events.

Kym Wenz led the Scots with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 from the line. She also grabbed six rebounds, and had two steals. Wilson and Justice both wound up in double figures, with 14 and 10 points, respectively, while Justice bested her career-high she established on Wednesday with seven rebounds. Kaitlin Krister managed eight points, handed out a career-high five assists, and corralled a game-high 13 caroms, as Wooster won the battle of the boards by 40-27 count.

Wood had a huge night for Ursuline, leading the way with 20 points, while racking up game-highs in assists with seven, and steals with five. Two other Arrows were in double figures as well with Whitney Blackburn and Jenna Tomaro contributing 15 and 10 points, respectively. Ashlay Lewis ended up with a near double-double of nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Next up for Wooster is a conference contest with Denison University (5-6, 3-0 NCAC) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Granville. The two teams met back on January 2 inside Timken Gymnasium, as the Big Red pulled away for an 81-66 victory.