Kym Wenz and Kaitlin Krister combined to rack up 48 points and 17 rebounds, but Hiram College withstood the duo's onslaught and snapped The College of Wooster women's basketball team's three-game win streak, with a narrow 64-63 victory Wednesday night in a North Coast Athletic Conference contest at Hiram, Ohio.
The Terriers (3-15, 2-7 NCAC) led 58-54 with 3:30 remaining in the game when Kym Wenz pulled down a defensive rebound and raced to the other end to knock down a 3-pointer which drew the Scots within one. Hiram answered back with a basket on its ensuing possession to push its lead to 60-57, and the Scots (7-11, 4-5 NCAC) couldn't capitalize on their next try, leaving Wooster down three with a minute remaining in the game.
Krister blocked Hiram's next shot attempt, pulled down the rebound, and was immediately fouled, where she split her shots at the line to bring Wooster within two (58-60). With 14 ticks on the clock, Wooster raced to foul Hiram, and Kelsey Durichko connected on both freebies to push its advantage to four.
In hurry up mode, the Scots missed a 3-ball attempt on the other end, but Wenz was able to pull down the offensive rebound and draw a foul underneath the hoop with six seconds remaining. She knocked both shots down, and then Wooster again immediately fouled Hiram, where this time Brittany Mayle sunk both attempts to push its lead back to four (64-40) with four seconds to go.
Colleen Goodwillie was able to splash a 3-ball as time expired, but it was too little too late, as Wooster lost for the first time since Jan. 9, while taking its first loss to Hiram since the 2007-08 season.
The Terriers took an early 4-0 lead to start the game, but Krister got the Fighting Scots right back into the action with her own six-point run, and Kym Wenz added another basket to give Wooster an 8-4 advantage. Krister and Wenz went on to score Wooster's initial 16 points, and Goodwillie knocked down a 3-pointer on a Keshia Butler assist that put the Scots ahead 20-15.
Wenz gave Wooster its largest lead of the night (24-17) when she connected on a jumper eight minutes prior to the break, but Hiram slowly picked away at its deficit, and battled back to a 31-31 tie late in the half. Krister knocked down consecutive shots at the charity stripe in the closing seconds and Wooster led 33-31 at the break.
Krister came into the game tied with Carly Loehrke (2003-07) with 122 career blocked shots, but her four-block outing tonight pushed her total to 126 and gave her sole possession of third place on Wooster's all-time list.
She also recorded 20 points and nine rebounds, and Wenz added a game-high 28 tallies and eight boards, as the tandem went in on over 75 percent of the team's scoring. Goodwillie added eight points, and Kristen Schwartz had four, while Butler dished out five assists.
Caitlyn Ruese paced the Terriers with 16 points, and Durichko added a game-high 12 rebounds in the win.
Wooster will be back in action Saturday when they attempt to sweep its season series with Denison University (14-4, 6-3 NCAC) at Timken Gymnasium at 2 p.m.