BEREA, OHIO -- Senior guard Jessica Butzer (Orrville) scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field as the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team defeated Otterbein College, 80-55, tonight (Wednesday, January 7, 2009) in Ohio Athletic Conference action at the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in Berea. The win was the fourth straight for the Yellow Jackets.
In addition to Butzer's 15, sophomore guard Courtney Ritzler (Fostoria/Hopewell-Loudon) scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range and junior center Ariel Brough (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) totaled 11 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Otterbein was led by a game-high 29 points from Laura Roth.
With its win, B-W improves to 8-5 overall and 3-3 in the OAC. With its loss, Otterbein is now 6-7 overall and 2-4 in the OAC.
B-W opened up a quick 18-6 first half lead following an 11-0 run highlighted by a trio of Ritzler three-pointers. The Yellow Jacket lead held in double-figures for most of the half and grew to as many as 20, at 42-22, following a layup from senior All-OAC guard Amanda Mondrach (Parma/Parma Heights Holy Name) with just 32 seconds left before the break. Otterbein's Kristi Kotterman nailed a jumper at the first half buzzer to bring the score to 42-27 at intermission.
In the second half, the Yellow Jacket advantage grew to a game-high 27 points, at 58-31, when Butzer connected on a three-pointer with 15:22 left on the clock. Otterbein was able to cut the lead to 14, at 64-50, with 7:41 left in the game but the Jackets ended the period on a 26-5 run to secure the 80-55 victory.
B-W will be back in action this Saturday, Jan. 10 when it travels to New Concord, Ohio to play OAC-rival Muskingum College in the Muskingum HPER Center at 3:00 p.m. Media and Fans can listen to the game live on campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, and via WBW's Internet Web site at www.wBW.com.
Media and fans are reminded that three B-W women's basketball games will be televised by SportsTime Ohio (www.sportstimeohio.com). The games are the January 14 game at cross-town rival John Carroll University at 7:30 p.m., its Jan. 17 home game versus Marietta College at 3:00 p.m. and its February 14 home game versus Muskingum College at 3:00 p.m.
FOR MORE 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.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
