Hope nips Lady Quakers, 70-67

Streck, Thomas combine for 35 points

|Box Score|

December 30, 2005

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Wilmington College was unable to make a seven-point halftime lead stand as the Lady Quakers fell to No. 14 Hope College, 70-67, in the Kalamazoo Klassic Friday.

Wilmington (8-3) built a 34-27 halftime lead despite losing its leading scorer Katie Streck (West Carrollton) to foul trouble midway through the first half. Senior guard Shawna Thomas (Middletown) — who hit seven of eight shots from the field in WC's win over Kalamazoo on Thursday — came off the bench to give the Lady Quakers a boost at both ends of the floor against the Flying Dutch.

"Shawna played very well. She had 15 points, shot seven-for-nine from the field," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said. "She's played a lot of good basketball for us, but these might be the best two games she's played back-to-back, shooting-wise. But she always gets out and plays hard and plays solid defense."

Defense was Hope's hope. The Flying Dutch turned up the pressure in the second half and erased Wilmington's lead and offensive flow.

"Their defensive pressure just would not allow us to get into our offense how we wanted to," Scheve said. "When we got into our offense we got shots and made shots. We shot 54 percent from the field, and you can't ask for any more than that. We just didn't get enough shots."

Hope (10-1), led by Jordyn Boles' 18 points, built an eight-point lead late in the game. The Lady Quakers authored a rally story of their own to cut the margin to one, but could not regain the lead.

Streck led all scorers with 20 points, Kelly Peters (Spencerville) scored nine and pulled down a team-best seven rebounds, Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) scored nine and handed out nine assists and Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak) scored eight. Scheve praised Hauke's defensive effort against Hope's top gun Bria Ebels, who managed just 11 points on four-of-13 shooting.

"Jackie played a heckuva game," Scheve said. "She did a great job on Ebels. She takes pride in her defensive play. Ebels was able to get loose in the second half and make a couple of big baskets, but beyond that Jackie did a great job defending her."

Scheve said the two-game trip to Michigan left him encouraged by the solid play of his squad's non-starters. With the grind of the Ohio Athletic Conference season ahead, depth is a prerequisite for success, he said.

"I'm really happy that some of our young kids who just started playing, like freshmen Kellyn Tisci (Findlay) and Amberly Conklin (Napoleon) and sophomore Amy Starks (Greenville) and junior Abby Newhouse (Florence, Ky./Boone County), gave us two solid games," Scheve said. "I'm optimistic about our depth, including some of the kids who didn't play today.

"I think our team has really grown up in the last couple weeks. I was really proud of how they played up here, in both games. Hope is one of the elite teams out there, and to play with them on the road with some injuries, I'm very optimistic about our future."

The Lady Quakers return to OAC play Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off with Ohio Northern University.