Lady Quakers upset No. 3 Capital

Streck, Hood, Hauke lead WC to win

|Box Score|

January 18, 2006

BEXLEY — Wilmington College made nine of 10 free throws in the final 2:49 to hold off Capital, 68-65, in Ohio Athletic Conference action Wednesday. The win moves the Lady Quakers to 7-2 in the OAC, 12-4 overall. Capital, which entered the game ranked No. 3 by WBCA and No. 9 by D3hoops.com, falls to 7-2 in the conference, 14-2 overall.

"There was a four-minute stretch in second half where we started making some poor decisions, and I just challenged them, told them that this was our time to mature as a team," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "We'd been in this position before, but we hadn't finished it. Tonight, the last four or five minutes, we did a nice job of finishing the game."

Thanks to 61-percent first-half shooting, Wilmington opened a 22-15 lead when Kelly Peters (Spencerville) scored at 9:38. Capital scored 10 of the next 12 points and took a 25-24 lead on Daniele Manalac's jumper. Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) hit a jumper and Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) converted a three-point play as the Lady Quakers took a 29-27 lead at the break.

Manalac scored to give Capital what proved to be its final lead of the game, 31-30, with 18:25 to play. Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak), after a scoreless first half, responded with three straight three-pointers to move Wilmington up, 39-35. After Capital had reduced the deficit to one, Peters scored off a Kellyn Tisci (Findlay) assist to start a spurt that gave WC a 46-39 lead at 10:56.

The Crusaders, led by Sara Heitkamp's 19 second-half points, cut Wilmington's lead to one on four occasions down the stretch, but the Lady Quakers sealed the win with clutch shooting from the foul line.

"The first half, each team had a run, but the second half was just a dogfight the whole way, two good teams playing hard, and we were just fortunate to come out of if with a win," Scheve said.

Streck led Wilmington with 18 points, Hood scored 15 and Hauke poured in 14 points, all in the second half.

"Jackie Hauke's play was key," Scheve said. "She didn't shoot the ball well in the first half, but she certainly did in the second. Her threes in the second half got us the lead and enabled us to loosen up some other players to make some shots. Defensively, she played a great game. She had six steals tonight, which is about what our team total usually is. She gave us a lot of energy that got us going."

Peters was a point away from a double-double, with nine points and team-high 10 rebounds. The Lady Quakers out-boarded Capital, 34-27. Heitkamp led all scorers with 27 points.

Wilmington will travel to Berea Saturday to face Baldwin-Wallace. The Yellow Jackets raised their OAC record to 9-0 Wednesday with a 90-44 thrashing of Heidelberg.