WC, Mount Union to collide in
OAC Tournament quarterfinal

WC posted hard-fought regular-season sweep

February 20, 2006

Wilmington and Mount Union will collide 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Fred Raizk Arena in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal game.

Wilmington, which enters the tourney as the No. 3 seed, defeated the Purple Raiders twice in the regular season, but neither win was easy.

On Jan. 14, Wilmington scored the game's final eight points to post a 55-43 win at Fred Raizk Arena. Two weeks later, it took a huge dose of heroics from junior post Kelly Peters for the Lady Quakers to pull out a 79-73 double-overtime win over Mount Union in Alliance.

"Mount Union was certainly very tough for us this year," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "They fought us tooth and nail both here and there. They have to have some confidence coming in here against us, with how they've played us the first two games. We're going to have to be at our best."

Not only against Wilmington, but for the entire season, it is important to examine the scoreboard when examining Mount Union's record — the Purple Raiders have been in more than their share of close games, with 11 of their losses coming by 10 or fewer points.

The No. 6 seed Purple Raiders (8-10 OAC, 13-12 overall) closed the regular season with a 67-57 loss at No. 4 seed Otterbein Saturday. Kyla Hogan led Mount Union with 20 points, Lauren Friedrich scored 15 and Alicia Williams added 12.

The Lady Quakers (13-5 OAC, 18-7 overall) closed the regular season with a 77-68 win over Marietta Saturday. The win gave Wilmington its first four-game winning streak of the season.

"Overall, I think we're playing well and have confidence in what we're doing right now. That's very important going into the tournament," Scheve said. "One thing that we haven't done well lately is take care of the basketball. We've stressed that in practice leading up to the tournament."

In WC's two regular-season victories over the Raiders, Peters (Spencerville) averaged 20.5 points and eight rebounds and Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) averaged 11.5 points and eight boards.

Williams averaged 16.5 points against Wilmington. After quiet offensive games against Wilmington in the first round, Hogan and Friedrich combined for 41 points in the Jan. 28 loss in Alliance. In that game, Hogan pulled down 18 rebounds.

The Raiders are one of the top defensive teams in the OAC, allowing just 59 points per game. Mount Union was fourth in team rebounding, pulling down 2.5 more boards per game than its opponents. Offensively, the Raiders rely on a balanced attack. With Williams (8th), Hogan (11th) and Friedrich (12th), Mount Union is the only team to have three players among the top 12 on the OAC scoring list. Williams led the OAC in rebounding.

Wilmington's tradition of offensive excellence and domination on the boards continued this season. The Lady Quakers scored an OAC-best 78 points per game and topped the conference by pulling down 11.2 more rebounds per game than their opponents. Wilmington also led the conference in assists and field-goal percentage.

With eight double-doubles, Peters established herself as one of the top post players in the OAC and Great Lakes Region. She led the OAC in field-goal percentage (60), was second in rebounding and fourth in scoring. Streck finished seventh in the scoring race, 11th in rebounding and led the conference in free throw shooting (83 percent). Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) led the OAC in assists and Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak) was second in three-point field goal percentage (47).