Wilmington drops overtime thriller

No. 12 Baldwin-Wallace prevails, 70-67

|Box Score|

January 7, 2006

Baldwin-Wallace scored the last four points of overtime to defeat the Wilmington College Lady Quakers, 70-67, in an Ohio Athletic Conference thriller Saturday at Fred Raizk Arena. The win moves B-W to 6-0 in the OAC, 11-2 overall. Wilmington drops to 9-4, 4-2 in conference play.

The No. 12 Yellow Jackets threatened to run away and hide early, taking a 23-6 lead when Jenn Neal scored at 11:22. The Lady Quakers, who connected on just 32 percent of their first-half shots, kept B-W within shouting distance as the Yellow Jackets took a 34-22 halftime lead.

"I challenged some people at halftime," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "I don't like to do that. Our players are usually ready to play and are going to go out and give a great effort. Today, for whatever reason, we were not mentally, physically or in any other way in that game."

Nikki Altenweg hit a trey to give the Yellow Jackets a 15-point lead early in the second half. Wilmington's defense then set the stage for a spirited rally as the Lady Quakers forced six B-W turnovers over a seven-minute stretch. Erica Smith (Union/Northmont) and Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) combined for 12 points as WC outscored B-W 19-5 to cut the deficit to 42-41 with 11:41 to play.

Wilmington's bench, led by Gina Hyle (Lawrenceburg, Ind./McAuley) and Anne Haky (North Olmsted/Bay Village), provided a lift that helped the Lady Quakers get and expand the lead. Hyle's stick-back gave WC its first advantage of the game at 43-42. Haky hit a pair of three-pointers and a lay-in as Wilmington's lead grew to 55-48 when Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) scored on a penetration move.

"Midway through the second half, we had at least four non-starters on the floor, and that's when we took the lead," Scheve said. "That could have been a key for us in winning the game. That's hopefully what we're going to take from this, that kids coming off the bench are in competition with one another. We had some kids come off the bench today and play at a very high level."

Hood drove for a score at 6:39 to give Wilmington a 59-53 lead. The basket was the last the Lady Quakers scored in regulation. Altenweg scored six points down the stretch as the Yellow Jackets took a 62-61 lead with 38 seconds to play. Smith hit one of two free throws to knot the score at 62-all, then Shawna Thomas (Middletown) blocked two Altenweg jumpers to send the game to overtime.

The overtime period featured four lead changes and two ties. Streck hit a pair of free throws to move the Lady Quakers into a 67-66 lead with a minute to play. Stacia Shrider's jumper gave B-W a 68-67 lead with 23 seconds remaining. The Lady Quakers' next possession ended with a turnover, and Altenweg was fouled and hit two foul shots. Wilmington's bid to send the game to a second overtime was dashed when Alyson Cotter blocked Hood's three-point attempt at the buzzer.

"We've just got to get ready to play the next game," Scheve said. "We're on a journey. We're still competing in this league. We know we've put ourselves behind the 8-ball, but we're going to keep competing. If we're fortunate enough to get back into this race, great. If not, we're going to be ready to play at the end of the year."

Streck led the Lady Quakers with 17 points, Smith added 14, Hood scored 10, Haky scored eight and Kelly Peters (Spencerville) scored seven. Altenweg led all scorers with 18 points

The Lady Quakers play at Muskingum Wednesday. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.