The College of Wooster women's basketball team had a five-point advantage late in the first half, but Kenyon College went on a 15-0 run to take the lead and eventually the game, as the Fighting Scots fell 42-55 Tuesday night in North Coast Athletic Conference action at Gambier, Ohio.
The Scots (7-13, 4-7 NCAC) were aggressive in the early goings, as Wenz knocked down a 3-pointer on a Colleen Goodwillie assist, and then an unassisted 3-ball minutes later, to give Wooster a 7-5 lead. Samantha Justice scored on her own three-point play, draining a jumper and hitting the ensuing free throw, to push Wooster's advantage to three (12-9), and a Jessica Wingen basket on a Goodwillie dish made it 16-11 with 7:44 until the break.
Kenyon then took control by going on a 15-0 run which included 3-pointers from Katie Adlam, Andrea Pohly, and Laurel Stokes, and the Lords (14-7, 7-5 NCAC) took a double-digit lead (26-16) with 2:44 on the clock.
Wenz hit her third 3-pointer of the half on a Justice assist, and then drew a foul and made both freebies, to cut the deficit to five (21-26) at half time.
Kristen Schwartz pulled down a defensive rebound and connected on a jumper on the other end to draw Wooster within three (23-26) as the second half got underway, but that was as close as the Scots got to catching Kenyon in this one. The Lords again gained a double-digit lead (35-24), and then another Pohly 3-ball pushed the advantage to 16 (44-28) with 12:10 still to go.
Schwartz had a solid second half, pouring in eight of her ten points in the period, which included a 4-of-4 effort at the charity stripe. On the night, she pulled down five rebounds and recorded a block and an assist in a season-high 28 minutes.
Wenz scored a game-high 15 points, knocking down four baskets from behind the arc, while pulling down four boards and adding three steals. Justice and Wingen both chipped in six points, and Kaitlin Krister had five points and five rebounds in the setback.
The Lords were paced by Stokes who racked up 11 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
Wooster will be back on the court this Friday in the first of back-to-back games, as they travel to Ohio Wesleyan University (14-6, 9-2 NCAC) on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. start, and then head back home to host Oberlin College (4-15, 3-7 NCAC) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.