Early Deficit Too Much to Overcome in 68-46 Loss to Denison

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women's basketball team got behind early and were never able to recover, as Denison University overwhelmed the Fighting Scots 68-46 on Saturday at Timken Gymnasium in the teams second North Coast Athletic Conference meeting this season.

The Scots (7-12, 4-6 NCAC), who broke a 19-game losing streak against the Big Red (15-4, 7-3 NCAC) back on Jan. 8, got behind 6-0 in the opening minutes and Denison never stopped attacking. A Taylor Keegan basket brought Wooster within 4-8, but that was the closet the Scots got to catching Denison, as Shaina Kaiser knocked down a shot that gave the Big Red a double-digit lead (18-7) nine minutes into the action.

Four minutes, and a 13-2 run later, the Scots were behind 22 points (31-9), but Wooster went to the break strong as Kaitlin Krister and Kristen Schwartz connected on baskets in the paint to help match Denison's scoring output over the closing 4:16.

Wooster looked reenergized in the second half, as the Scots went on to equal Denison's scoring output (33-33), and at times made nice runs to cut into the deficit. Down by 27 (22-49) with 13:38 remaining in the game, Wooster went on a 7-0 run that included jumpers from Kelly Aughenbaugh and Kym Wenz, and culminated in a Sarah Abboud 3-pointer on a Keshia Butler assist, that brought the Scots within 20 (29-49).

Denison went back to work and built its lead to as much as 31 (60-29), but Wooster outscored the Big Red 17-8 over the game's final six minutes, including an 8-2 run to close out the contest.

The Scots shot a season-low 25 percent (15-of-60) from the field and an uncharacteristic 11 percent (2-of-18) from behind the arc. Wooster came into the game knocking down almost 40 percent of its 3-point attempts, and had made 47 percent (8-of-17) in its last meeting with Denison.

Pacing Wooster was Wenz who scored 14 points, the second-lowest total to lead the team all season. Krister added eight points, six rebounds, and two blocks, and Schwartz and Abboud finished with six tallies each.

Denison's Kaiser had a solid outing, scoring a game-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go along with her seven boards. Serafina Nuzzo poured in 15 points, and Lucy Follansbee pulled down a game-high eight rebounds in only 14 minutes on the court.

Wooster has a three-game slate next week, starting with a trip to Kenyon College (11-7, 4-5 NCAC) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.