women’s basketball – The Transcript

Women’s basketball team falls against 15th ranked DePauw

By Aleksei Pavloff, Sports Editor

The Ohio Wesleyan University women’s basketball played the DePauw Tigers and lost by a large margin with the final score 74-46.

On Jan. 21, the women’s basketball team competed against the Tigers for the second time this season. The last time they played, DePauw won with the score 70-59. The Bishops hoped to correct the problems from the first game as they prepared for the second.

“We were pumped, motivated, excited, locked in on what we needed to do,” said OWU wing junior Hallie Sinko. “We knew they would come out strong. We were so close last time, we figured if we gave a little bit more, it would be a more matched up game, but that wasn’t the case.”

DePauw came into Branch Rickey Arena scoring 24 points in the first quarter, while OWU scored 7 points. At the half, the Tigers scored 42 points. Sinko said the team’s motivation to turn things around was apparent in the locker room at halftime. DePauw held onto their lead with the final score 74-46.

“Communication, consistency, every individual needs to be fully locked in the whole game and bring the same intensity for all 40 minutes,” Sinko said. “Just take it quarter by quarter.”

Sophomore point guard Lisa Zeller said, “We didn’t do our best but we are all we need. We just need to be consistent.”

Senior captain Megan Kuether reached her 1000th point in her college basketball career. Zeller said she was glad to see the senior pass a huge milestone that only few have reached.

“She inspires all of us,” Zeller said, adding that Kuether and the rest of the seniors will be missed because they contribute a lot to the team’s success. She also said that being consistent is what the team needs to do for in preparation for its next game.

The women’s team have a 7-12 overall recod and are 4-6 in the NCAC.

Mixed results for OWU’s basketball teams

Leia Miza, Transcript Reporter

A bittersweet note was left at Branch Rickey Stadium on Jan. 24 as Ohio Wesleyan University’s women’s team was defeated and the men’s team triumphed over Denison University.

The women’s team went first against Denison and kept the score close throughout.

By the end of the game, the team faced challenges, which resulted in a loss.

“I was pleased with our rebounding effort in the first half, but they just wore us down in the fourth quarter,” said Stacey Lobdell, coach of the women’s team at OWU.

Rylie Pittard, a freshman on the women’s team, said, “throughout the game it was pretty even for both teams, we would score and then they would counter it.”

The players forced 21 turnovers and 13 steals, but the defensive effort still resulted in a 58-42 loss for the Battling Bishops.

Immediately after the women clashed, the OWU men’s basketball team came onto the court and began warming up. The stands filled with more fans and foot-stomping and chanting filled the stadium.

The scores between both teams remained close throughout the first half. But near the end of the game, there was a major turning point.

“The team went down by seven points with five minutes left in the game and we went on scoring run, took the lead and won the game,” said senior team captain Claude Gray.

This was a good test for the team as it gave it a chance to “show we have heart,” Gray said.

“I was just glad me and the team could pull together and do the things needed to be done to win the game. I’m looking forward to seeing the team keep improving.”

Women’s basketball wins on National Day

The win against Kenyon for the Ohio Wesleyan University women’s basketball team was a win for women everywhere.

With the women’s soccer, rugby and softball teams in attendance, the women’s basketball team defeated NCAC rivals Kenyon 75-71 on National Girls and Women in Sports Day last Saturday, Feb. 7.

The win pushed the Battling Bishops’ overall record to 11-11 and their conference record to 8-6.

Senior LaNiece McRae had a game high with 23 points and sophomore guard Megan Kuether crucially connected on four free throws in the last minute to put away the Lords and add to her career-high 22 points.

“It felt great to get the win, especially since all the other women’s teams were there supporting us,” Kuether said. “The win felt bigger and more exciting because of all the support for (National Girls and Women in Sports Day).”

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation website, this year marks the 29th National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The theme of the day was the reduction of concussions in female student-athletes, something that the website reports as a major concern “among female athletes at both the collegiate and high school levels.”

The website also suggests “there is evidence of gender differences in the outcomes of concussions, with evidence suggesting that female athletes present more concussion symptoms acutely, take a longer period to recover from concussions and report a greater number of and more prolonged post-concussion symptoms than male athletes.”

OWU women’s basketball beat Allegheny 58-56 in a thriller last Saturday and now looks toward proving themselves further in the NCAC tournament.

“We will keep working hard in practice as a team and committing to defense which helped us the past few games,” Kuether said. “Hopefully it will help us peak for the tournament.”

The 8-6 NCAC record has the Bishops sitting fifth in the conference with two remaining games against Oberlin and DePauw. Oberlin is third in the conference with a 10-4 record and DePauw is first at 15-0.

Last year, the women defeated DePauw in the last game of the season to give the Tigers their only conference lost.