BEREA, OHIO --  Senior forward Daniele Sanna scored a team-high 11 points as the Capital University women's basketball team defeated Baldwin-Wallace College, 53-41, in the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship Game tonight (Saturday, February 28, 2009) in The Capital Center in Columbus to advance to next week's NCAA Division III National Tournament.  An 11:00 a.m. NCAA Division III Selection Committee press conference on Monday, March 2 will be held to announce the opponent, site and game time.

With its win, Capital is now 22-5 overall, has captured its eighth OAC Tournament and advances to the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The Crusaders also have won seven straight games, captured the season series against B-W by winning two-of-three games and own a 39-20 lead in the all-time series. B-W is now 21-7 overall, ended a four-game winning streak and must await the Monday NCAA press conference to see if it will earn an NCAA Tournament At-Large berth.

In addition Sanna for Capital, senior forward Caitlin Elsass, senior point guard Heather McAlpin and junior guard Kristen Richardson scored nine points each.  B-W was led by sophomore guard Amanda Schroeder (Columbus Grove) with a game-high 16 points and sophomore guard Courtney Ritzler (Fostoria/ Hopewell-Loudon) with eight.  Junior Academic All-OAC and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV center Ariel Brough (Powell/ Olentangy Liberty) added six points and a game-high-tying eight rebounds.

In the first half, Schroeder pulled down her own rebound and followed it with a layup at the 19:18 mark to give B-W a 2-0 lead.  Capital countered with two points of its own when Richardson made a jump shot in the paint with 18:44 clock.

The Yellow Jackets then exploded for an 11-0 run which spanned only 2:28 to lead, 13-3, when Schroeder pulled down another offensive board and made a layup at the 15:56 mark.  The Jackets and the Crusaders traded shots for nearly six minutes before Capital began a run of its own.

The Crusaders outscored B-W, 14-5, over the last 9:49 of the first half.  The five Yellow Jacket points all came on free throws.  Richardson cut the B-W lead to six at 19-13 with a jumper in the paint.  Following one free throw from Schroeder, Capital scored the next four points to cut the lead to 20-17 when sophomore guard Tara Harper connected on the back end of a pair of free throws with 4:27 to play in the opening stanza.

Senior point guard Rachael Quiring (Brunswick/ Parma Heights Holy Name) extended B-W's lead to five points at 22-17 with a pair of free throws at the 3:28 mark, but Capital answered back to tie the game at 22-22 with just :49 left with a senior guard Katy Lafferty three-pointer followed by another two free throws from Harper with just :49 left.  Courtney Ritzler made two free throws with :24 left to give the Yellow Jackets a 24-22 advantage at the intermission.

In the second half, Capital tied the score at 24-24 when Lafferty nailed a jumper with 19:05 left.  B-W retook the lead, 26-24, with 18:43 on the clock when Brough made a layup.  The lead was extended to 27-24 at the 17:31 mark when senior All-OAC guard Amanda Mondrach (Parma/ Parma Heights Holy Name) made the first of two free throws.

Capital then went on a 13-0 run to take its largest lead of the game at 37-27 when senior forward Caitlin Elsass made a layup at the 10:02 mark.  Defensively, the Crusaders denied B-W any points over a 7:37 stretch.

The Brown & Gold cut the deficit to six points at 43-37 when Schroeder made a layup, but that would be the closest the Yellow Jackets could get.  Capital outscored B-W 10-4 over the remainder of the game to secure the tournament championship and its automatic NCAA bid.

For B-W, Schroeder was named to the OAC All-Tournament team and was joined by Sanna, McAlpin and Elsass.  Wilmington's Kortney Kin and Muskingum's Tiffany Youel were also all-tournament picks.