Ohio Wesleyan 80, Denison 66

Feb. 27, 2009

Sophomore wing Tyler Cordell (Columbus/St. Francis DeSales) scored 4 points during an 11-1 run that gave Ohio Wesleyan a double-digit second-half lead, and Cordell and senior post Katie Hamilton (Hilliard/Darby) each went 4-for-4 from the line to seal the game as the Bishops upended conference champion Denison in a semifinal contest of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament on Friday in Granville.

Ohio Wesleyan, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, advances to the tournament championship game to face third-seeded Allegheny at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Granville.

The Big Red, which had gone 16-0 in winning this season's NCAC championship, took an early 15-10 lead with the help of 3-pointers by Katie St. Clair and Haley Dahlgard.

Ohio Wesleyan responded by scoring the next 11 points, with freshman post Dany Finck (Hilliard/Darby) hitting a pair of lay-ins, Cordell burying a 3-pointer, and sophomore post Kayla Gordon (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) adding a lay-in before buckets by Finck and sophomore guard Pam Quigney (Mentor) gave the Bishops a 23-17 lead midway through the first half.

Denison countered with a 10-2 run that included a pair of 3-pointers by Shaina Kaiser, the latter giving the Big Red a 29-28 lead with 4:55 left in the period.

Cordell hit a jumper from the lane on Ohio Wesleyan's next possession, putting the Bishops ahead to stay and kicking off a 12-3 run to end the half. Quigney added a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws, junior wing Rachel Seibel (Johnstown/Johnstown-Monroe) scored on a fast break off a Cordell assist, and Cordell finished off the half with a 3-pointer that gave the Bishops a 40-32 lead at the intermission.

Kaiser and St. Clair scored to rally Denison to within 44-40 at the 16:10 mark when the Bishops took off on their 11-1 run.

Quigney's 3-pointer ended that Big Red comeback, and Cordell followed with a pair of free throws, then Seibel canned a jumper from the lane and a Cordell added a jumper to give Ohio Wesleyan a 53-40 lead.

Dahlgard hit a free throw for Denison, but Seibel answered with a jumper from the lane for a 55-41 Bishop advantage with 10:55 remaining.

St. Clair's putback basket ended Denison's stretch of just under 6 minutes without a basket, and the Big Red came back on the inside scoring of Carolyn Simpson and another Kaiser 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 60-54 with 6:01 to play.

That 6-point margin was as close as Denison would come, however, as the Bishops had an answer each time. The Big Red continued to keep matters close behind the inside scoring of Simpson, Ellen O'Brien and St. Clair, only to see first Hamilton, then Quigney hit a pair of free throws to extend the Bishop lead to 8 points before Hamilton added another pair of free throws to stretch the Bishop lead to 70-60 with 2:14 to go.

O'Brien and Caitlin Graessle hit 3-pointers to bring the Big Red back once more, cutting the margin to 72-66 with :54 to play, but Cordell and Hamilton took over from there, combining to go 8-for-8 from the line to finish off the game and send the Bishops into the tournament championship game for the first time since 2003.

Quigney led the Bishops with 21 points. Cordell posted a double-double, collecting 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, and dished out a team-high 6 assists.

Hamilton went 12-for-17 from the line on the way to 16 points. Her 17 free throw attempts tied the school record set by Jessica Viertlboeck against Allegheny on Jan. 20, 2001.

Seibel added 11 points, scoring 9 of those during the second half.

Ohio Wesleyan committed only 6 turnovers, breaking the school single-game record for fewest turnovers. The Bishops had 8 turnovers on 3 occasions, most recently at Oberlin on Feb. 18, 1995.

Simpson led Denison with 16 points and 9 rebounds, while Kaiser added 13 points.

Box Score