Lady Quakers fall in overtime 83-81

Balser and Zerilla each record career high scoring nights in the loss

[Box Score]

November 27, 2004

WILMINGTON – The Wilmington College Lady Quakers dropped their first game of the 2004-05 season in overtime to the Hornets of Kalamazoo College in the first game of the Fred Raizk Tournament. Courtney Balser (Pleasant Plain/Little Miami) and Siobhan Zerilla (Cincinnati/Mercy) scored 24 and 22 points respectively, each a career high.

The Lady Quakers and Hornets battled back and forth with the highest lead by either team being a seven-point advantage the Quakers earned when Balser hit back-to-back jumpers, the second with 5:28 to play before Kalamazoo opened a 12-0 run, taking a five point lead that was cut to three by halftime.

Kalamazoo increased the second-half lead to as many as 15 with 11:56 to play in regulation before the Lady Quakers started to slowly chip away, eventually tying the game at 66 with 1:26 to play on a pair of Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) free throws. After a basket by Mary Brown of Kalamazoo, Zerilla scored her 19th point of the game with 13 seconds to play, providing the game’s equalizer, and sending it into overtime at 68-68.

The two teams each scored a basket in the first 45 seconds of the overtime period before the Hornets opened an 8-0 run over the next two minutes, taking a lead that the Lady Quakers could not surpass, ending their Division III long 11-game winning streak.

Balser led the way with 24 points while Zerilla scored 22. put in 15 points for the team in the losing effort. Zerilla pulled down a team-high nine rebounds while Erica Smith (Union/Northmont) grabbed six. Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) dished out five assists while Balser had four steals.

Kalamazoo was led by Brown, who scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds while Ashley Riley scored 16 and Sara Lappan, Lindsay Basler and Angie Neu each scored in double figures with 13, 11 and 10 points respectively. Neu dished out five assists as Brown picked up four steals.

With the loss, the Lady Quakers fall to 2-1 on the season as Kalamazoo improves to 2-1.

The Lady Quakers next face off against either Whitworth (Wa.) or Defiance in the consolation game of the Fred Raizk Tournament with tip-off set for 2:00 p.m.