Tara Rausch

Lady Quakers defeat conference foe Otterbein 86-78

Wilmington, OH (January 15, 2003) ­ The Lady Quakers of Wilmington College held on to an eight point victory over the Lady Cardinals of Otterbein College 86-78 on Wednesday evening.

The Quakers were led by Tara Rausch (Marysville/Fairbanks) and Megan Woodruff (New Vienna/East Clinton), who scored 20 and 26 points respectively.

The Lady Quakers (11-2, 6-1 OAC) opened the game on a 6-0 run before the Cardinals went on a 10-2 run to take their only lead of the game at 10-8. The Lady Quakers then responded with a 12-2 run to recapture the advantage. The lead for WC would grow to as many as 17 in the first half, and ended at 16, 43-27.

Otterbein (10-4, 3-4 OAC) scored first in the second period, as the two teams battled going back and forth for the first half of the stanza, with the lead staying between 13 and 17 points for the first eight minutes. With 13:11 left in the game, the Green and White went on an 8-0 run to open the lead to 23. The lead grew to as many as 24 with 7:05 left before the Lady Cardinals began to chip away at the lead, and eventually cutting the deficit to eight with two seconds left in the game, the last score of the contest.

Rausch scored a game-high 26 points in the game while Woodruff scored 20 and Amy Kincer chipped in with 13. Siobhan Zerilla (Cincinnati/Mercy) pulled down 12 rebounds while Rausch grabbed 10 for her second consecutive double-double of the year. Woodruff also dished out a team-leading eight assists in the game.

Otterbein was led by Brianne Gray who scored 17 points while Katy Witt scored 10 and Abbey Perez chipped in with nine. Heather Gepper pulled down seven rebounds to lead the squad while Gray and Esterkamp each dished out a team-leading four assists.

The next game for the Green and White is set for Saturday, January 18 when the team plays host to Marietta College with tip-of set for 3:00 p.m.