Wooster Comeback Falls Short in Road Bout at Kenyon

The College of Wooster women's basketball team held a three-point lead in the third period after going down as much as 10 points in the first half, but a strong third stanza from Kenyon College proved enough to hold off a Fighting Scots' comeback as the Ladies prevailed 62-55 on Wednesday night at Gambier, Ohio.

Sophomore Awkia Tilton tied her previous career-high of 14 points, set originally against Kenyon (15-3, 8-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) last February, to lead Wooster's scoring effort while senior Aki Shurelds contributed 12 points off the bench, all coming in the fourth period on 5-of-8 shooting.

The Scots (4-13, 2-6 NCAC) found themselves down 17-8 after the opening 10 minutes as two Ladies, Paige Matijasich and Sharon Hull, each totaled seven points.

In the second, Wooster limited Kenyon to 29.4 percent from the floor while tacking on 18 points and outrebounding the Ladies 15-6. In fact, Wooster logged as many offensive rebounds (6) as Kenyon did in total.

Tilton made nine of the Scots' first 11 points in the second period to bring them back within five before first-year Maria Janasko made it a two-point deficit (26-24) after a pair of free throws at the 4:19 mark. From there, Matijasich and sophomore Erica Roberts exchanged buckets to close the half down 28-26.

Three points from Tilton and a pair from Roberts earned Wooster its first lead of the game at 31-30 just over a minute into the second half. After a put-back by Roberts to go up three, the Ladies churned out a 9-0 run to go up six before sophomore Kylie Orr stopped the bleeding with a jumper from midrange.

After a pair of buckets from Orr and sophomore Aubri McKoy to bring the Scots within three, Kenyon again came up with a mini 6-0 run to extend its cushion to nine (48-39) heading into the final 10 minutes.

In the fourth, the Ladies went up as much as 15 before the Scots mounted a 14-6 run, but time proved too thin as Kenyon held on for its third straight victory.

Up next, Wooster hosts Hiram College (8-10, 3-5 NCAC) on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m.