Lady Quakers post
win at Ohio Northern

Peters records eighth double-double

|Box Score|

February 8, 2006

ADA — Kelly Peters and Erica Smith scored 13 points each as Wilmington College snapped two streaks in beating Ohio Northern, 70-57, in Ohio Athletic Conference play Wednesday.

The win ends WC's first two-game in-season losing streak in five years and halts ONU's winning streak at four.

"This was a big win for a couple reasons," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "Number one, Ohio Northern's been playing as well as anybody in the league, and we've come off two real tough losses, the kind of games that make you question a little bit what you're doing. We were playing against a team that we just barely beat at home earlier in the year when we were playing well. There were a lot of question marks going into this game for us. I think we answered a lot of those in the first half and played our best defensive half of the year."

Wilmington (10-5 OAC, 15-7 overall) held ONU to 14 first-half points and poured in 34 of its own to take a 20-point halftime cushion. The lead grew to 26 when Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak) hit a jumper two minutes into the second half.

Ohio Northern (7-8 OAC, 12-10 overall) rallied behind the three-point shooting of Jenny Markle to slice Wilmington's advantage to 47-35 with 12:22 to play.

"They're a good team. We knew they would make a run at us," Scheve said. "They've got really good shooters — that's their strength. Plus, for whatever reason, maybe because of the big lead, we didn't play as well defensively in the second half. We started going under some screens and let them get some open looks, and they made most of those open looks."

Hauke and Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) responded with treys as WC moved the lead back to 18. The Polar Bears whittled Wilmington's lead to eight on two occasions in the final five minutes, but the Lady Quakers hit eight of 10 free throws — including four straight from freshman point guard Kellyn Tisci — down the stretch to preserve the win.

Streck scored nine points, Gina Hyle (Lawrenceburg, Ind./McAuley) and Amy Starks (Greenville) scored eight points each, Hauke added seven and Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) scored four points and handed out seven assists. Tisci (Findlay) scored six and came up big in crunch time.

"Sam got beat up a little bit and wasn't able to finish the game, so Kellyn stepped in the final five or six minutes and really played with composure," Scheve said. "Amy Starks played very well. She is a kid who didn't get to play very much as a freshman, then started this year with a knee injury. She has slowly been rounding into form, and she showed a little bit of that tonight."

For the game, Wilmington out-rebounded ONU, 46-26. Peters (Spencerville) pulled down 10 rebounds to record her eighth double-double of the season. Smith (Union/Northmont), Streck and Kara Robinson (Zanesville/Bishop Rosecrans) collected five rebounds each.

Wilmington hosts Heidelberg 3 p.m. Saturday at Fred Raizk Arena.