Sarah Abboud

WOOSTER, Ohio – A 13-0 scoring run late in the second half turned an otherwise evenly-played match-up between The College of Wooster and Hiram College into a 59-52 victory for the Fighting Scots in a North Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball tilt Wednesday evening at Timken Gymnasium.

Although the Terriers (4-10, 1-5 NCAC) led by as much as eight points early in the second half, the Scots (2-11, 1-4 NCAC) worked themselves back within striking distance, and then put together an impressive run with nine minutes to go in regulation.

Trailing 39-36, Maura Hall scored on a drive to the hoop and earned a trip to the free throw line, where she sunk the basket to tie the game at 39-39.

On the ensuing possession, Samantha Sulzer came up with a steal and Sarah Abboud scored in the paint while drawing a foul to give Wooster a two-point lead. Abboud missed the free throw, but Sulzer pulled down the offensive rebound and then quickly went back up and scored to push Wooster's advantage to 43-39.

Hiram turned the ball over on its next two possessions, with the second one coming via another steal by Abboud, and then Abboud capped off the play by draining a deep 3-pointer to put the Scots out in front by seven (46-39) with 7:24 left in the game.

Abboud continued her strong play by sinking 3-of-4 free throws over the next minute to give Wooster its 10-point margin (49-39), which it was able to ride to victory.

The Scots had 16 assists on the night, their second-highest total of the season, and also kept their turnovers (20) well below their season average.

On the stat sheet, Abboud scored 14 points, with 11 coming in the second half. Jessica Wingen also tallied 14 points to go along with 13 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks.

Also of note, Karley Walker and Suvi Puripattarapan both tied season-highs with five assists apiece.

Hiram was paced Tiffany Shields who racked up 17 points and nine rebounds.

The Scots will look to carry this momentum into the weekend when they visit No. 7 ranked DePauw University (11-1, 4-0 NCAC) Jan. 14 at 1 p.m.