McKoy, Marion reach career-highs in 84-74 loss to Ohio Wesleyan

DELAWARE, Ohio -- The College of Wooster women's basketball team dropped to 0-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference after an 84-74 loss to Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday.

Senior Aubri McKoy led the way with a career-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting while junior Sarah Marion followed with 14 points, which tied a career-high.

Junior Maria Janasko added 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Senior Cat Fiorito dished out a team-high nine assists, while adding four points, three steals and two rebounds.

Wooster fell behind 5-0 to start the game but took its first lead with a Janasko layup to make it 10-9 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter. After falling behind again, Fiorito recorded a steal and found Marion for a fast break layup to give Wooster a 16-15 lead with 1:11 left.

However, Ohio Wesleyan answered again and led 17-16 at the end of one. They scored the first five points of the second quarter, but Wooster would tie it at 29-29 and trail 33-29 at halftime.

The Battling Bishops then scored the first seven points out of the half and took a 53-47 lead after three quarters.

Wooster put together a 27-point fourth quarter, but following the Scots every step of the way was Ohio Wesleyan's Claire Sterling who scored 24 of her game-high 27 points in the second half. Sterling was 8-of-13 in the final two frames and 9-of-18 for the game as the Battling Bishops (4-4,2-1 NCAC) put up 31 points in the fourth to counter the Scots.

Wooster got to within four points twice in the fourth quarter including with 1:40 remaining but a Leah Maniaci 3-pointer made it 78-71 with 1:20 remaining. That started a 9-3 run to close out the game.

Wooster shot 39 percent (27-of-70) from the floor, just 16 percent from deep (3-of-19) and 65 percent from the charity stripe (17-of-26). Ohio Wesleyan shot 46 percent (30-of-66) for the game, 38 percent from 3-point range (8-of-21) and 73 percent from the foul line (16-of-22).

Wooster was outrebounded 53-35 as Molly Delaney and Nicole Popovich each tallied a game-high 13 rebounds for the Battling Bishops. Popovich had the double-double by adding 15 points.
Akwia Tilton added seven points and four steals, while Jenna Stanton and A'Janay Nicholson added six points each. Wooster's bench outscored Ohio Wesleyan's 30-13, and the teams tied in second chance points with 16.

Wooster drops its second straight to move to 3-4 overall. They host a non-conference matchup against Mount St. Joseph University on Tuesday in their final home game of December.