Denison 76, Ohio Wesleyan 71

Feb. 6, 2009

Sophomore post Kayla Gordon (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) buried a pair of 3-pointers as Ohio Wesleyan sliced a 12-point second-half deficit to a single point, but Denison answered with a timely 3-pointer and escaped Branch Rickey Arena with a North Coast Athletic Conference win over the Bishops on Friday.

The Big Red had taken a 61-49 lead on a pair of Shaina Kaiser free throws midway through the second half.

Ohio Wesleyan rallied with a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Pam Quigney (Mentor) and a pair of free throws and a lay-in from senior post Katie Hamilton (Hilliard/Darby) to cut the gap to 61-56 with 8:17 to play.

Denison padded its lead to 68-59 on Carolyn Simpson's putback with 6:11 remaining, and the Big Red still led, 70-63, on Haley Dahlgard's lay-in with 3:41 left in regulation time.

Gordon then knocked down 3-pointers on back-to-back Ohio Wesleyan possessions, bringing the Bishops within 70-69 with 2:17 to play. After a Denison miss, the Bishops had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but Quigney's jumper with 1:38 remaining was off the mark.

Denison cleared the defensive rebound, and on the ensuing Big Red possession, Ellen O'Brien found Kaiser open on the right wing, and Kaiser hit a 3-pointer to give the Big Red a 73-69 lead with 1:20 to play.

Quigney's steal and lay-in brought the Bishops back to within 73-71 at the :48 mark, and with :30 left, O'Brien was fouled and hit both ends of a one-and-one to extend the Denison lead to 75-71.

Freshman post Dany Finck (Hilliard/Darby) drew a foul with :18 left and missed the first free throw. With the Bishops down 4, Finck intentionally missed the second shot to give Ohio Wesleyan a chance at an offensive rebound, but Denison covered the loose ball, and O'Brien's free throw with :13 to play sealed the outcome.

The first half was a tightly contested, back-and-forth affair in which the biggest lead was 4 points, there were 6 ties and at least a dozen lead changes. Sophomore wing Tyler Cordell (Columbus/St. Francis DeSales) hit a lay-in with 10 seconds left in the period to give Ohio Wesleyan a 39-37 lead at the intermission.

Quigney scored on a putback and on a fast break during the first minute of the second half, giving the Bishops a 43-37 lead, but Denison came right back to score the next 10 points, getting a fast break lay-in from Carolyn Simpson and a Kaiser 3-pointer before O'Brien provided a steal and lay-in and a 3-pointer for a 47-43 Big Red lead with 16:52 to go.

Ohio Wesleyan tied it at 47-47 when Hamilton split a pair of free throws with 13:59 remaining, but Denison responded with a 14-2 run, with Kaiser contributing 3 baskets and a pair of free throws and Katie St. Clair adding a pair of hoops, for the 61-49 lead with 9:36 to play.

Hamilton led the Bishops with 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Quigney finished with 13 points, Gordon scored 12 points and Cordell added 11 points and a team-high 4 assists.

Kaiser led Denison with 30 points, with O'Brien adding 14 points and 6 assists.

Box Score