WILMINGTON, OHIO -- Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) scored 11 points but the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team lost to Wilmington College, 54-48, today (Saturday, December 10, 2011) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Fred Razik Arena. This was the first game of a men's and women's OAC doubleheader. The B-W men play Wilmington at 4:00 p.m.
With the loss, the Yellow Jackets fall to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in the OAC. The Quakers improve to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the OAC.
In addition to Carpenter for B-W, sophomore center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Parma Normandy) scored a career-high in points with nine, and sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville/ Senior) also contributed nine points. Wilmington was led by sophomore forward Brianna Peters with 15 points.
The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring when Lairson made two free throws at 19:39. That started an early 6-0 run to open the game, capped by a layup by Carpenter at 17:42.
The Quakers ended the run and got on the board when sophomore guard Wippel scored on a jumper with 16:10 left in the first half. That started a 11-0 run for Wilmington, capped by a three-point shot by sophomore guard Haley Howard, that gave the Quakers their first lead of the game at 11-6 with 13:20 left in the half.
B-W freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) would hit a three-point shot to cut the Wilmington lead to 11-9 with 13:05 left in the half, but the Quakers would answer right back with a layup by Peters to extend their lead back to 13-9 at 12:22.
B-W cut the lead to two points again with 10:22 left in the half on a jumper by Carpenter, but the Quakers would extend their lead to four points at 15-11 when Wippel made two free throws at 8:35.
The Yellow Jackets would then retake the lead on a 5-0 scoring run, capped off by two free throws by Simovic with 7:43 left in the first half giving B-W a 16-15 lead. The game would continue to stay close with three lead changes until the Quakers took a 21-18 advantage at 4:57. B-W then gained the lead for good with a 6-0 run to lead 24-21 at 1:33, capped by a Lairson technical free throw.
The Quakers would cut the lead back to one when Makenzie hit two free throws with 1:10 left in the half to make the score 24-23. The Yellow Jackets would end the half with a jumper by Lairson with 47 seconds left to give B-W a 26-23 lead at the intermission.
In the second half, Wilmington would strike first with a jumper by Wippel at 19:41 to cut the lead to 26-25 before the Yellow Jackets regained the three-point lead at 28-25 with a jumper by Rossman at the 19:21.
The Quakers would tie the game at 28-28 after a 3-0 run that was capped by a jumper by Peters at the 17:31 mark. The Yellow Jackets would come right back with a 7-0 run to take a 35-28 lead when Simovic made a layup at the 14:09 mark.
Then the Quakers began their comeback.
After the score stood at 37-31 in B-W's favor, a 6-0 run to by Wilmington tied the game up at 37-37 when sophomore guard Bria Eslick made a jumper at the 10:09 mark left in the game. Then she gave the Quakers a 39-37 lead at at 7:56 with another jumper. B-W would take its final lead at 40-39 on the next play via a three-pointer by freshman guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic).
Wilmington took the lead for good at 41-40 at the 7:33 mark when Peters made a jumper and increased it to 47-42 at 1:47 when she scored again. The Quakers held their largest lead of the game of eight points twice down the final stretch, including the final time at 56-48 with 11 seconds left when Topp made a foul shot.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, December 17 when they host Muskingum University in an OAC game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 3:00 p.m.
Media and fans are reminded that the B-W will televise two men's and women's basketball doubleheaders onregional cable TV giant SportsTime Ohio. The games are the January 28 doubleheader versus Wilmington and the February 18 twinbill versus Ohio Northern University. B-W has broadcast more of its athletics events on regional cable TV than any other Division III school.
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.