BEREA, OHIO --  Senior guard Jessica Butzer (Orrville) came off the bench to score a team-high 20 points as the defending Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament-champion and second seed Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team defeated third-seed Muskingum College, 70-58, in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal game tonight (Friday, February 27, 2009) in the Capital Center in Columbus.

 

With its win, B-W, now 21-6 overall, advances to play the winner of the second semifinal game between host Capital University and Wilmington College in the OAC Championship Game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Capital.  The winner of the OAC Tournament receives the OAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.  With its loss, Muskingum ends its season at 18-9 overall. B-W also defeated Muskingum in two of three games this season, has beaten the Fighting Muskies 16 of the past 17 meetings dating back to 2001 and now leads the all-time series, 34-23.  B-W is advancing to the OAC Championship Game for the 12th time in the last 13 years, winning five titles and placing second seven times.

 

Butzer canned 7-of-15 shots from the floor, including all three of her three-point attempts, and made three-of-four free throws. She also had two rebounds and two assists. In addition, sophomore guard Courtney Ritzler (Fostoria/ Hopewell-Loudon) scored 10 points and junior forward Serena Farage (Medina Buckeye) had her second straight double-figure rebounding game with a team-high 10. Muskingum was led by senior center Jessica McKenzie with game-highs 26 points and and 18 rebounds and senior guard Tiffany Youel had 25 points.

 

In the first half, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the 19:44 mark when Amanda Schroeder (Columbus Grove) made a three-pointer.  Muskingum tied the game at 3-3 via a trey by Youel at the 19:33 mark. B-W then took control by going on a 9-2 run to take a 12-5 lead at the 17:05 mark when Farage made a lay up.

 

The B-W lead grew to double digits at 22-11 at the 10:05 mark when Farage grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. The largest lead of the first stanza was 20 points at 40-20 at the 1:30 mark when Ritzler made a jump shot while driving toward the basket.  The Yellow Jackets also led at halftime, 40-25, following a final 5-0 run by the Muskies.

 

In the second half, Muskingum continued its run by scoring the first eight points to end a 13-0 run and get within seven points at 40-33 with 15:54 left when McKenzie made a lay up. Butzer then scored five points to restore B-W's double-digit lead to 12 points at 45-33 with 15:01 left when she canned a pair of foul shots.

 

Muskingum got as close as 10 points on four separate occassions with the last at 52-42 with 10:09 left when Youel canned a long three-pointer. But B-W regained control of the game by outscoring the Muskies 12-3 to build its lead back to 19 points at 64-45 with 6:38 left when Ritzler made two foul shots. The closest Muskingum would get after that point was 10 at 68-58 with 24 seconds left when McKenzie made a lay up.

 

In addition to B-W winning, the victory was the 395th of Head Coach Cheri Harrer's career and improved her all-time mark to 395-135 in 19 seasons.

 

All women's basketball games are broadcast by campus radio station WBW. The away games are available on the radio at 88.3 FM and via the WBW Internet web site at www.wBW.com . Home games are available only via internet.