BEREA, Ohio –The Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team ended its regular season and clinched a share of its eighth Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title as it defeated Muskingum University, 87-51, in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. This was the seventh straight win for the Yellow Jackets
BW (20-5, 15-3 OAC), who has now won nine straight games versus Muskingum, shares the OAC regular season title with cross-town rival John Carroll University for the first title since the 2007-08 season. The Yellow Jackets swept the season series with the Blue Streaks and earned the top seed and a pair of byes in next week's OAC Tournament.
BW was led by junior guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) who scored a game-high tying 14 points. Junior guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) and senior three-time All-OAC forward Jessica Lairson (Louisville) each contributed 12.
Muskingum (7-17, 5-13 OAC) was led by freshman forward Jasmine Goings with a game-high tying 14 points and senior guard Gabbi Davis tallied 12.
After Smolik split a pair of free throws to open the game, the Fighting Muskies responded with a 6-0 run to take a 6-1 lead on a jumper by Davis with 16:44 left. The Yellow Jackets answered back with a 6-2 run to cut the lead down to 8-7 on a three-pointer by freshman guard Sydney Clark (Parma/Lake Ridge Academy) at 13:33.
BW regained the lead at 11-10 on a jumper by Smolik in the paint with 11:17 remaining. The Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 run and pushed their lead to 16-10 on a traditional three-point play by sophomore center Sam Hamar (Galion) at the 8:24 mark.
The Yellow Jackets would outscore Muskingum 19-14 over the remainder off the half but Davis hit a three-pointer for Muskingum as time expired to trail 35-24 at the intermission.
BW opened the second half on a 7-1 run to extend its lead to 42-25 on a three-pointer by Mangas with 17:49 remaining. The Fighting Muskies responded with a 5-0 run to cut the lead down to 42-30 on a traditional three-point play by Goings at 17:08
The Yellow Jackets put the game away when they went on a 26-8 run to take a 68-38 lead on a three-point by sophomore guard Alissa Munro (Mansfield/Lexington) with 9:11 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets will host an OAC Tournament semifinal game against an opponent to be determined on Thursday, February 27 in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the two semifinal games will meet in the OAC Championship on Saturday, March 1 at the highest remaining seed with tip scheduled for 3 p.m.
FOR MORE BW 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 BW athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.