Ohio Wesleyan 69, Allegheny 57

Feb. 16, 2008

Senior wing Steffi Graf (Poland/Seminary) erupted for 7 consecutive points in less than 30 seconds to give Ohio Wesleyan the lead, and the Bishops held off a second-half Allegheny rally to take a North Coast Athletic Conference win over the Gators on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.

Allegheny had taken a 43-41 lead on Emilie Simone's lay-in with 11:31 left in regulation time.

Graf was fouled on the Bishops' next possession and hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 43-43 with 10:56 remaining. She then stole the ball and took it in for a lay-in and a 45-43 Bishop lead, and as the Gators got the ball over midcourt on their next possession, Graf knifed in front of a Laura Magnelli pass, streaked downcourt, pulled up and buried a 3-pointer that gave Ohio Wesleyan a 48-43 lead with 10:27 to play.

Junior post Katie Hamilton (Hilliard/Darby) followed with a 3-point play, and senior post Kelli Lester (Pataskala/Watkins Memorial) later knocked down a 3-pointer, capping a 13-1 Ohio Wesleyan run that gave the Bishops a 54-44 edge.

Stephanie Wolf's lay-in with 7:23 to play ended Allegheny's spell of over 4 minutes without a basket, but when freshman wing Tyler Cordell (Columbus/St. Francis DeSales) and freshman post Kayla Gordon (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) answered with baskets, the Bishops had their largest lead of the game at 58-46 with less than 5 minutes left in regulation time.

Allegheny fought back at the free throw line, with Wolf sinking a pair of charity tosses and Jill Gregory canning 5 of 6 shots from the stripe during the next 90 seconds, bringing the Gators within 58-53 with 2:31 to play.

Graf ended the Gator run with a basket for a 60-53 Ohio Wesleyan lead with 1:43 left, and after a Cordell steal, the Bishops slammed the door. As the shot clock expired, senior wing Lindsey Macklin (Columbus/Bexley) launched a 3-pointer that circled the back of the rim and caromed into the lane. The ball went right to Cordell, who scored on the putback to put Ohio Wesleyan up by a count of 62-53 with 1:04 to play.

The first half saw each team weather lengthy dry spells. Ohio Wesleyan hit one of its first 10 shots, but the Gators were unable to take advantage, with the Bishops battling back to tie the game at 9-9. Allegheny answered with a 9-2 run that included a pair of buckets each by Wolf and Magnelli, and the Gators still led, 24-19, on Brittany Bell's 3-pointer with 2:48 left in the half.

Ohio Wesleyan responded with an 11-3 run to close out the period, tying the game on a Graf jumper and a Gordon 3-pointer, and after Allegheny took a 27-26 lead on another Bell 3-pointer, the Bishops got a pair of baskets by Cordell in the final 21 seconds of the period to seize the momentum at the intermission.

The Bishops opened the second half with buckets from Graf and Cordell to stretch the lead to 34-27 less than a minute into the period, but Allegheny countered with a 10-0 run for a 37-34 lead at the 13:29 mark, and the teams traded scores from there until Graf's 29-second blitz turned the tide.

Graf led the Bishops with 20 points, while Cordell finished with 12 points and Hamilton added 10 points. Gordon and Lester shared the team lead with 5 rebounds apiece.

Wolf and Bell shared the Allegheny lead with 11 points apiece, and Magnelli added 10 points. Wolf led the Gators with 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

Box Score