Wilmington slips past ONU

Peters scores 20 in 73-71 win

|Box Score|

January 4, 2006

Katie Streck and Kelly Peters combined for 18 points in the final 9:38 as Wilmington College steered clear of upset-minded Ohio Northern University, 73-71, in Ohio Athletic Conference play Wednesday at Fred Raizk Arena.

"In all honesty, we saw them on tape in a couple games and they didn't play very well," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "We knew they were a better team than we saw on tape. They run a very patterned offense and ran some other things that we thought we were ready to handle, but didn't do a very good job of handling."

Danielle Andreasen hit three three-pointers in the first seven minutes of play as Ohio Northern (6-6 overall, 1-4 OAC) opened a 17-9 lead. Wilmington got some long-distance assistance from Gina Hyle (Lawrenceburg, Ind./McAuley) and Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak) to tie the game at 17-17, then took its first lead on a Shawna Thomas (Middletown) jumper at 8:03. Peters (Spencerville) and Streck (Dayton/Carroll) scored to move Wilmington ahead, 23-17.

The Lady Quakers (9-3, 4-1 OAC) did not pull away, thanks in large part to Ohio Northern's methodical half-court offense and zone defense. At the half, WC led 33-30, and ONU's confidence was growing.

"When you let an OAC team stick around in the game, their confidence builds, and that's exactly what happened," Scheve said. "They kept playing harder and harder and we were missing shots against their zone and we were making no effort to get offensive rebounds. Missing shots and not getting offensive rebounds is not a good combination."

Megan Cevasco — who scored 14 of her team-high 18 points in the second half — hit a three-pointer to give ONU a 36-35 lead at 18:24. Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) handed out one of her nine assists as Erica Smith (Union/Northmont) buried a trey to put WC back on top, 38-36. Over the next 8:30 WC managed just a Peters lay-in and a three-pointer from Hyle. When ONU's Leah Zimmerman nailed a three-pointer at 9:38, the Polar Bears led 47-43.

Streck scored seven straight points as WC tied the game at 50-50. Peters then powered in a pair of shots that left the game tied 54-all at 6:40. Peters, who hit nine of 11 field goal attempts, scored five more points as the Lady Quakers built a lead that grew to seven when Thomas scored from the baseline at 1:12. Three-pointers from Cevasco and Jenny Markle, though, pulled ONU to within 70-68 with 23 seconds to play.

Hauke hit a pair of free throws to give WC a four-point advantage, but Sam Samples' three-point play reduced WC's lead to 72-71. Hood was fouled and connected on one of two free throws. Cevasco drove the distance of the court and launched a long three-pointer that beat the buzzer but bounced off the rim.

"We never really got into a flow against their zone," Scheve said. "We probably should have got the ball to Kelly more, but we were just in a hurry to do things. She had to play a lot of minutes tonight — you worry about that at the end of the game, but she seemed stronger at the end and demanded the ball. She and Katie played well inside; they got most of our key points down the stretch. Gina played real well and Shawna gave us another strong game."

Peters led all scorers with 20 points while Streck poured in 15. Hyle and Thomas added nine each for WC and Hauke scored eight. Wilmington, the top rebounding team in the OAC, won the battle on the boards by one, 32-31. Peters led WC with seven boards; Amy Starks collected six rebounds for the Lady Quakers.

Wilmington will host OAC front-runner Baldwin-Wallace (10-2, 5-0 OAC) 3 p.m. Saturday at Fred Raizk Arena. The Yellow Jackets defeated Mount Union, 60-55, Wednesday.