By Olivia Lease and Haley Cooper
Transcript Correspondent and Assistant Copy Editor
The Jan. 25 doubleheader against the Denison University Big Red had mixed results for the Ohio Wesleyan basketball teams.
In the women’s game, Denison edged out the Bishops at Branch Rickey Arena with a final score of 64-72.
Although Denison was up at the end of the first half the 33-26, OWU fought hard to come back.
The last ten minuets of the game were full of chair gripping scores that made it a four-point game, but OWU slipped up in the last two minutes of the game.
Among the high scorers for the game were juniors Kristin Henning, LaNiece McRae and Sarah McQuade, scoring 16, 11 and 10 points respectively.
McQuade, second in the NCAC in assists with 4.2 per game, said the team’s goal is to get into the top three or four spots in conference so they can have a better chance at making a run at the conference tournament.
“Personally, we all set game goals, and mine is 12 points and five assists a game,” she said. “That way I give my teammates the opportunity to shoot during the game, too.”
Sophomore Hannah Fedorka says her personal goals are to help her team win by making assists, run plays and score points when needed.
“I think the biggest thing that needs to be improved is our thought process,” she said.
“We need to believe in ourselves and believe we are the better team.”
The team is doing better than last year earning a 10-8 record overall, 5-4 in the NCAC.
“This team has a better chemistry (this year),” Fedorka said. “We work well together, we all have the same goals, and are striving to be the best in the league.”
In the men’s game last weekend, the Bishops defeated the Big Red 83-75.
Denison led by as many as 13 points in the first half, and despite a three-pointer by senior Taylor Reiger and a two-handed dunk from senior Reuel Rogers, they would hold on to that lead, ending the half at 42-36.
Things quickly turned around at the start of the second half.
Denison sophomore Darius White led off with a three-point shot, but that would be the end to the Big Red’s success.
Two students were escorted out of the game when they became rowdy trying to show their support.
Reiger scored to tie the game 47-47. Shortly after, sophomore Claude Gray scored another basket for OWU, putting the Bishops in the lead.
White added another shot, putting the pressure on Denison and increasing the Bishop lead 51-47.
“We started off slow defensively, but we picked it up in the second half which got us going offensively” said Reiger.
Later, senior Dre White scored nine consecutive points for OWU, giving the Bishops a double-digit lead, finishing off the run at 75-64 with 3:14 left on the clock.
White and freshman Seth Clark secured the game at the free throw line while the Battling Bishops continued to play solid defense.
“(We were) very good in the second half, the first half Denison was really good and we let them shoot some open 3’s but we responded very well” Head Coach Mike Dewitt said.
Gray led the Bishops with 22 points, White finished with 20 points, Rieger with 16 and Clark with 11. Rogers had a team high 11 rebounds, and blocked six Big Red shots.
The men’s basketball team’s next game is at Wooster on Wednesday, January 29, at 8 p.m.
Wooster is currently ranked second in last week’s Division III basketball poll on D3hoops.com.