ALLIANCE, OHIO -- Sophomore guard Jessica Lairson's (Louisville) had a team-high 11 points but the Yellow Jackets fall to No. 12-ranked University of Mount Union, 53-45 tonight (Wednesday, January 7, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.
With the loss, B-W falls to 9-6 overall and 4-4 in the OAC and ended a two-game win streak. With its win, Mount Union is now 13-1 overall and 6-1 in the OAC and has won eight straight.
In addition to Lairson, freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) had 10 points and junior forward Nancy Coulter (Washington Court House/ Miami Trace) had 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds. The Purple Raiders were led byAmanda Rose who scored a game-high 16 points and Kory Wiedt had nine points all on three- pointers.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the 16:14 mark when Lairson made a jump shot before the Purple Raiders cut the lead to 6-3 at the 15:11 mark when Wiedt made a three-pointer. Back-to-back treys by Smolik at 14:27 and again at 13:01 pushed the lead to nine points at 12-3.
Mt. Union went on a 5-0 run to cut the advantage to 12-8 when Brittant Kilgore canned a triple at 11:12. Again, Smolik struck with her third three-pointer of the half to make it 15-8 with 7:57 before the intermission. But the Raiders scored four straight to make it a
15-12score with 6:22 when Amanda Tamerland made two foul shots.
B-W sophomore center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) capped a 4-2 run to make it 19-14 with 5:24 left , but an Erin Schmidt layup at 3:09 capped a 6-0 Mt. Union run and gave the Purple Raiders their first lead at 20-19.
B-W regained the lead at 21-20 on a jumper by Coulter and increased it to 22-20 on a Lairson foul shot at 2:04. After Mt. Union tied the score at 22-22, Coulter scored the last points of the half on a jumper with 40 seconds remaining and the Yellow Jackets led, 24-22, at the break.
In the second half, Coulter gave B-W a 26-22 advantage with a layup at 19:11, but Mt. Union scored four straight to tie it at 26-26 at 18:40. Coulter gave B-W a 28-26 lead with a jumper at 17:37, a layup by sophomore guard Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./ Corry Area) at 16:32 and two foul shots by Lairson at 14:37 gave B-W a six-point bulge at 32-26.
After the teams split baskets to make it 34-28, Mt. Union scored six straight points to tie it again at 34-34 when Schmidt made a layup at 10:26. A Smolik foul shot at 10:08 gave the Jackets a 35-34 lead but junior guard Rosa LaMattina gave the lead back to the Purple Raiders at 36-35 with a jumper at 8:53.
B-W regained the lead at 37-36 when sophomore forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) made a jumper at 7:50, but Wiedt canned her third triple of the contest to give the lead back to the Raiders at 39-37 with 7:42 left. Yellow Jacket junior guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) then tied it again at 39-all with a pair of charity tosses with 7:22 remaining.
Rose gave the lead back to Mt. Union with a layup at 5:44 and Saunders increased the lead to 43-39 with a layup of her own at 4:36. A pair of Lairson foul shots at 4:23 made it 43-41, but Rose again made it a four-point game at 45-41 with a pair of foul shots of her own at 2:58 and a steal by LaMattina and a three-point play by Rose layup at 2:52 pushed the lead to 48-41. A pair of foul shots by All-OAC forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) ended the run and drew B-W to 48-43 with 2:03 left.
A Rose foul shot at 1:43 made it 49-43, but Simovic scored for B-W at 1:33 to make it 49-45, but her foul shot to complete the three-point play and make it a one-possession game was off target. Rose came right back for the Raiders with a layup at 1:07 to make it 51-45 and two Allen foul shots made it 53-45 with 52 seconds left. But that was as close as B-W would get.
B-W is back in action on Saturday, Jan. 14 when it travels to Ada, Ohio to play Ohio Northern University in the first game of a women's and men's doubleheader inside the ONU Sports Center at 2:00 p.m. The men tipoff at 4:00 p.m. Both games will be carried LIVE by campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, and via the Internet at http://www.wbwc.com <http://www.wbwc.com> . The pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to tipoff.
The next home game is on Saturday, January 21 when B-W plays Marietta College for the second time this season 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 on regional cable network 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.