Lady Quakers fall to Yellow Jackets

Hauke scores career-high 25 for WC

|Box Score|

January 21, 2006

BEREA — Wilmington College built — but could not maintain — a 12-point lead as Baldwin-Wallace came from behind to hand the Lady Quakers an 80-71 Ohio Athletic Conference setback Saturday. Wilmington drops to 7-3 in the OAC, 12-5 overall. The Yellow Jackets are now 10-0 in the conference, 15-2 overall.

Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak) led Wilmington with career-high 25 points and was slowed down only by foul trouble. The sophomore guard picked up two fouls in the game's first five minutes, but still managed to hit three three-pointers as WC built a 36-24 lead on a Kelly Peters (Spencerville) tip-in at 5:04. Alyson Cotter, though, hit a pair of threes as the Yellow Jackets whittled Wilmington's lead to 40-35 at the break.

"We started the game with a lot of energy today," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "We were getting after all the loose balls, our offensive rebounding was the best it's been all year and we were making some shots, especially Jackie Hauke. When she picked up her second foul she had already hit a couple of baskets and it was obvious she was on today. Getting the second foul cost her a lot of minutes, but she played an outstanding game. I think one of the real keys was that we weren't able to hold that 12-point lead into halftime. We knew they were going to come back at us. It would have been nice to have a little more cushion, but they made the plays at the end of the first half to get it back to five."

Baldwin-Wallace (ranked No. 8 by WBCA and No. 12 by d3hoops.com) pulled to within 40-39 before Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) buried her second three-pointer of the game. Wilmington's lead eventually reached six when Kelly Tisci (Findlay) scored at 13:35. Baldwin-Wallace's depth created the element of attrition. Over the final nine minutes, WC made just three field goals while the Yellow Jackets got nine total baskets from seven different players to regain and expand the lead.

Down 72-65 with 2:21 to play, WC got a pair of free throws from Peters and a lay-up from Sam Hood to pull within three at 1:15. Baldwin-Wallace answered at the stripe by canning six of eight foul shots to ice the win.

Hauke was nine-for-12 shooting and hit six of eight three-point attempts. Streck scored 15 points, Peters scored 14 and pulled down 13 rebounds and Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) contributed 12. Amanda Mondrach led B-W with 16 points, but it was the Yellow Jackets' bench that was the difference. Baldwin-Wallace's non-starters outscored their Wilmington counterparts 47-3.

"They've got 11 starters is what it comes down to," Scheve said. "They're all good, solid basketball players, and whoever gets the hot hand will be in the game at the end. That's what makes them good, makes them tough to defend."

The loss means Scheve will have the opportunity to collect career win No. 300 at home. The coach will bring a 299-116 career mark into Wednesday's game with Muskingum. Tip-off at Fred Raizk Arena is 7:30 p.m.