Lauren Hancher

The College of Wooster women's basketball team returned to the court after a 12-day layoff, and despite an evenly-matched second half, the Fighting Scots weren't able to recover from their slow start, as Capital University notched a 70-49 victory at its own Marriott – Columbus Airport Holiday Tournament on Monday evening at the Capital Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Wooster (1-9) was slow out of the gates, as it trailed by 12 about nine minutes into the action, but back-to-back baskets by Rachel Huxhold and Paige Fabry made it an eight-point game (23-15) midway through the opening stanza.

The contest took a turn at that point, as Capital (5-4) strung together a quick 9-2 scoring run to go up 32-17. Then over the final eight minutes of the half, the Crusaders forced the Scots into eight turnovers, as they pushed their advantage to 44-23 at the break.

Wooster played strong defense in the second half, surrendering just 26 points, the lowest total its allowed in a half this season. The Scots still couldn't find a rhythm offensively, though, as they also scored only 26 points, on their way to a 70-49 setback.

The story of the game was turnovers, as Wooster gave up the ball 27 times – its most in 39 games – which Capital turned into 30 points.

One highlight was Lauren Hancher, who led all scorers with 13 markers in the scorebook. Sydney Grier tied a game-high with six rebounds and added eight points, while Rachel Collins (9 points) and Huxhold (7 points, 3 assists) also chipped in on the offensive end.

Capital had 14 different players make at least one basket, with Chelsea Pla's 12 points pacing the group.

Wooster will be back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. when it goes up against Centre College, which was edged by Grove City College, 54-52, in Monday's early game.