Jackets Beat ONU, in Regular Season Finale

Jackets Beat ONU, in Regular Season Finale
Posted: Feb 18, 2012

BEREA, OHIO – Junior forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) scored 27 points as the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team upset Ohio Northern University, 70-65, today (Saturday, February 18, 2012) in the final Ohio Athletic Conference regular season game on Seniors' & Parents' Day and President Richard W. Durst Day in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center. The 2012 OAC Tournament begins on Monday, Feb. 20.

Today's B-W women's and men's doubleheader was televised by SportsTime Ohio. The men's game can be seen this evening (Saturday, Feb. 18) at 9:00 p.m. and again on Monday, Feb. 20 at 7:00 a.m. The women's game can be viewed this evening at 11:00 p.m. and tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 19 at 7:00 a.m. and again at 4:00 p.m. B-W has broadcast more of its athletics events on regional cable TV than any other Division III school.

Prior to today's women's game, B-W honored its lone senior in forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/ St. Mary's Central Catholic) who scored two points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds in the contest. Her 11 rebounds now gives her 603 for her career as she is ninth all-time in school history.

With its win, B-W improves to 16-9 overall and ends the regular season at 11-7 and will be either the No.4 or No.5 seed in the OAC Tournament depending upon the outcome of today's other OAC contests. The Polar Bears end the regular season at 20-5 overall and 14-4 in the OAC and will be the No.2 seed and opens OAC tourney play in the semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 23.

In addition to Carpenter and Spisak for B-W, sophomore center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/ Parma Normandy) scored 12 points. For ONU, sophomore center Kenzie Yoder had a team-high 24 points. She was joined in double figures by junior guards Joanna Snyder with 12 points and Morgan Dumbaugh with 11, all in the second half.

The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring at 19:22 mark when Simovic made a jump shot for a 2-0 lead. Following an ONU basket, Simovic made another jumper at 18:21 and Carpenter nailed a three-pointer at 17:40 for a 7-2 advantage.  And, after an ONU foul shot, sophomore forward Lexi  Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) scored at 15:10 and freshman guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) made a trey for a 12-3 lead.

ONU got back in the game with a 11-2 run to tie the game at 14-14 at 10:08 when senior forward Kara Dysert grabbed a rebound and made a short jump shot, but B-W came right back with a jumper by Simovic at 8:12 and Carpenter converted a three-point play at 7:46 for a 19-14 lead.
 
Undaunted ONU went on a 5-0 run to tie it again at 19-19 with 7:07 left and took a 21-19 lead at 6:31 when Yoder scored on a layup. B-W tied it again at 21-21 at 5:14 when freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) made a steal and went coast-to-coast.

ONU regained the lead at 22-21 when senior point guard Megan Porter made one of two foul shots at 5:14. The lead grew to five points at 26-21 with 2:12 left when Dysert canned a 10-foot jumper in the lane, and the Polar Bears extended it to 31-23 at 1:07 when Yoder converted a three-point play. Overall, the Polar Bear run was 28-11 from 13:29 to 1:07.  Carpenter ended the run with 45.1 seconds left before the intermission when she connected on two foul shots to close to 31-25. ONU also led at halftime, 33-25.

In the second half, ONU grabbed an 11-point lead at 36-25 when Snyder made a triple at 19:38. After a Carpenter hoop at 19:19, Yoder had another three-point play at 17:48 for a 39-27 bulge.
 
The Yellow Jackets came right back and went on a 11-6 run to cut the ONU lead to seven at 45-38 with 11:37 left when Carpenter made a layup, but ONU went on a 10-0 run, capped by eight points by Dumbaugh to build its largest lead at 55-38 with 9:11 remaining. Carpenter again got B-W back in the game with a pair of triples, with the last coming at 7:49 to make it 55-44.
 
After a layup by junior point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) at 7:19 and a Rossman steal and basket by Simovic at 7:06 and B-W had an 10-0 run and drew to 55-48. But Dysert came right back with a basket at 6:52 to rebuild the lead to 57-48.
 
A Simovic basket at 6:40 cut the advantage to 57-50, but another Dumbaugh trey at 6:16 made it 60-50. Simovic made two foul shots at 5:58, but Snyder hit a Polar Bear triple to make it 63-52. But back came B-W as sophomore guard and leading scorer Jessica Lairson (Louisville/ Senior) made two foul shots at 4:56 and a three-point play at 4:36 and Rohrbach followed with her own three-point play at 4:11 and suddenly B-W had a 22-8 run in just more than five minutes to close to 63-60.
 
After Dysert missed two foul shots and ONU committed a turnover, Mangas canned a three-pointer for B-W and tied it at 63-63. ONU went right back to its top player, Yoder, who scored at 2:26 to give the Polar Bears the lead again at 65-63. B-W then gained the lead at 66-65 at 1:07 when junior guard Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./ Corry Area) grabbed a loose ball during a scramble just outside the three-point arc and nailed a jumper.
 
ONU called timeout with 52.2 seconds left. You had to know that they wanted to get the ball to Yoder, but B-W played great defense and forced Snyder to miss a jumper that was rebounded Spisak for her 601st career carom. B-W called timeout with 34.3 seconds left and 29 seconds on the shot clock. Out of the timeout, ONU fouled Carpenter with 29.6 seconds left and she calmly made both charity tosses for a 68-65 advantage.

ONU called timeout. Out of the break, the Polar Bears

In terms of the OAC Tournament, the first round is on Monday, Feb. 20, the second round on Tuesday, Feb. 21, the semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 23 and the Championship games on Saturday, Feb. 25. On Monday, the No.5-seed hosts the No.8 seed and the No.6-seed hosts the No.7 -seed. On Tuesday, the No.3-seed hosts the winner of the No.6 vs. No.7-seed game and the No.4-seed hosts the winner of the No.5 vs. No.8-seed game. On Thursday, the No.1 and No.2 seeds host the semifinal games. The Women's OAC Championship Game is at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and the Men's OAC Championship Game is at 7:30 p.m.

Fans can listen to all home and away Yellow Jacket men's and women's basketball games live on campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, and via its internet web site. To listen via the internet, please log on at http://real.bw.edu/ramgen/broadcast/WBWC_LIVE.rm.  The pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to tipoff.

FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.