BEREA, Ohio – A hot third quarter propelled the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team to a non-conference victory over Case Western Reserve University 77-51 inside Ursprung Gymnasium.
BW (5-3, 1-2 OAC) was led by senior Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard
Katie Smith (Fairview Park/Fairview) who scored a game-high tying 13 points. Junior All-OAC guard
Hannah Fecht (Hilliard/Davidson) contributed 10 points of her own and also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
Case (3-5) was led by junior Hillary Hellman as she was the lone Spartan in double figures with a game-high tying 13 points.
The Yellow Jackets worked the ball deep into the paint to start the game as their first five made field goals all came via the layup. Once BW had established itself on the inside, junior Academic All-OAC guard
MacKenzi Matthews (North Royalton) and
Smith extended the court by hitting back-to-back three-pointers to take a 19-5 lead with 4:56 left in the period. With the Spartan defense off balance, the Yellow Jackets continued to take care of the basketball and shoot at a high percentage, heading into the second quarter with a 28-12 lead.
Case began to find a little bit of a rhythm in the second quarter as the Spartans hung with the Yellow Jackets basket for basket. Case still trailed by 16 points at the 4:31 mark, however, but continued to chip away at the lead as a personal 5-0 run by Hellman brought the Spartans within 10 points, 36-26, with 1:24 remaining in the half. A free throw by sophomore guard
Kasey Hughes (Springboro) made the first half score 37-26.
The third quarter began much the same way that the second quarter ended until sophomore guard/forward
Kara Marshall (Copley/Akron Archbishop Hoban) put her team on her shoulders, scoring seven of her nine points to help BW back out to a 51-32 lead at the 3:44 mark. Four points from senior forward
Megan Schubert (Defiance/Ayersville) and two three-pointers from
Smith then gave the Yellow Jackets a 27-point advantage and all the momentum heading into the final period with a 62-36 lead.
A 20-plus point deficit was too much for the Spartans to overcome in the fourth quarter as the Yellow Jackets sealed a 77-51 victory.
BW will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 16, when the Yellow Jackets host Capital University for an OAC contest at 3 p.m. inside Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.
