Hot First-Half Shooting Propels Ladies Past Wooster

WOOSTER, Ohio – Lights-out first half shooting, marked by a 66.7 percent clip in the first period, guided the Kenyon College Ladies to a 77-60 victory over The College of Wooster women's basketball team on Wednesday night at Timken Gymnasium.

Kenyon (19-5, 12-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) remains a game behind Oberlin College (18-6, 13-2 NCAC) for second place in the league standings with one game remaining. Wooster (6-18, 4-11 NCAC) has locked up the seventh seed in next week's conference tournament and will play either Kenyon or Oberlin.

On Wednesday, the Ladies had four players in double figures, led by Sharon Hulls' 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 5-for-9 from three-point range.

Wooster first-year Sarah Rapacz nearly doubled her previous season high with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go along with six boards. Junior Anna Gibbs and sophomore Kylie Orr each had 11 points, with Gibbs tallying five assists and three steals.

The Fighting Scots shot an efficient 7-for-16 in the first period, but a 12-for-18 clip from the Ladies pushed the visitors ahead 30-17 after the opening 10 minutes.

In the second, Kenyon's Paige Matisjasich, one of the league's top-five scorers, tallied seven of her 10 points as Kenyon's starters accounted for 18 of 20 second-period points.

All of Wooster's 15 second-period points came from reserves, led by six from Orr and five from junior Kyle Croxton, as the Scots trailed 50-32 entering the halftime break.

Rapacz got things rolling for Wooster early in the third with an offensive put-back at the 9:35 mark. However, a 12-0 Kenyon run sapped Wooster's third-period momentum. Behind a 4-for-7 clip from beyond the arc, the Ladies eventually increased their lead to 29 (68-39) by the start of the fourth.

The Scots opened the final stanza with a 13-0 run, led by four points from both Gibbs and Rapacz.

Wooster cut the deficit down to 17 at three different points throughout the fourth period after limiting the visitors to 3-for-17 shooting. The Scots outscored Kenyon 21-9 in the period, but could not rebound from a slow third period.

First-year Maria Janasko led all Scots with seven rebounds while sophomores Cat Fiorito and Akwia Tilton each recorded a block.

Up next, the Scots travel to Wittenberg University (12-11, 7-7 NCAC) on Saturday, Feb. 17 for the regular-season finale, with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m.