Lady Quakers fall to DePauw

Peters and Streck named to All-Tounament Team

|Box Score|

November 27, 2005

WILMINGTON, Ohio — DePauw University made the most of an 18-4 spurt midway through the second half as the Tigers defeated No. 12 Wilmington College, 88-75, in the championship game of the Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament Sunday at Fred Raizk Arena.

Tournament MVP Liz Bondi and All-Tournament selection Gretchen Haehl combined for 13 points as No. 19 DePauw turned a 49-45 lead into a 67-49 advantage over a five-minute span.

"We just went through a dry spell where we seemed to sit on the number 49 forever, point-wise," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "There were three, four or five shots there that just kind of bounced around the rim, but we didn¹t any bounces to go our way. If we could have just kept their lead in single digits it might have been a different story. I was proud of our effort. We didn¹t give up, and we¹re not going to give up. This is going to be a good team, and it¹s going to get better."

Wilmington (3-1) played uphill most of the game, its final lead coming on a Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) three-pointer with 7:16 to play in the first half. DePauw (4-1) g

rinded its way to a 42-36 lead with a relentless half-court offense. "I want to give a lot of credit to DePauw," Scheve said. "We felt going in they were as hard a working team as we¹ve ever played against. We didn¹t think they shot the ball particularly well, and obviously we were wrong about that. When you put together the effort they put forth and the shooting ability, that was a team that was very tough for us to handle."

For a second straight game, Wilmington rode the growing shoulders of junior post Kelly Peters (Spencerville/Spencerville). Peters, who set career highs in points (24) and rebounds (12) in WC¹s win over Bethany Saturday, poured in 33 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in a dominating performance against DePauw.

"The thing that impressed me the most about Kelly tonight was she played 35 minutes, and we don¹t often play people 35 minutes," Scheve said. "I don¹t think her effort ever went down a notch. That¹s as good a game as I¹ve ever had a player play for me. When you get efforts like that from your players, good things are going to result eventually."

Wilmington emerged from its offensive drought, but the damage was done. The Lady Quakers employed their seldom-used full-court pressure and were able to cut the deficit to 82-73 in the final minute of play. Haehl, though, iced any further comeback plans by hitting four straight free throws.

"We did some nice things at the end of the game and got back in it," Scheve said. "One more break Š we got it to nine points and then gave up an offensive rebound. We¹re a team, obviously, that doesn¹t press very much; that¹s not our calling card. It¹s something that we¹re going to have to get better at as the year goes on"

Sophomore forward Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) scored 12 points and collected seven rebounds and joined Peters on the All-Tournament Team. Junior forward Erica Smith (Union/Northmont) scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds for WC. Hood scored six points and handed out five assists and junior post Kara Robinson (Zanesville/Bishop Rosecrans) scored six points and pulled down six boards in a strong performance off the bench. Haehl came off the DePauw bench to score 20 of her team-high 25 points in the second half. Bondi scored 24 points and snared 11 rebounds.

In the consolation game, Hanover defeated Bethany, 59-56. Hanover¹s Angela Newkirk and Bethany¹s Jenny Place were All-Tournament selections.

The Lady Quakers host Wittenberg Wednesday night as part of a doubleheader at Fred Raizk Arena. The WC men¹s team will face Thomas More at 6 p.m., followed by the women¹s game at 8 p.m.