Women Beat Wilmington, 77-56

Posted: Jan 28, 2012

BEREA, OHIO – Junior forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) scored 17 points as the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team beat Wilmington College, 77-56, today (Saturday, January 28, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center. This was the second and final regular season meeting between the teams.

Media and fans can view this game on SportsTime Ohio on Saturday night at 11:00 p.m.

With its victory, B-W improved to 12-7 overall and 7-5 in the OAC and won for the fourth time in the last five games. With its loss, Wilmington fell to 10-9 overall and 5-7 in the OAC and lost for the second straight time.

In addition to Carpenter for the B-W, freshman guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) scored a career-high12 points and sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) had 11. Also, sophomore backup center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/ Normandy) had nine points, a game-high 10 rebounds and nine blocked shots. Wilmington was led by sophomore guard Bria Eslick with 18 points, sophomore forward Brianna Peters had 14 and sophomore guard Makenzie Wippel had 10.

The Quakers jumped out to a 4-0 lead at the 18:34 mark when sophomore forward Brianna Peters made a jump shot. Following a three-pointer by junior All-OAC forward Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) at the 18:02 mark, Wilmington scored eight straight points to lead 12-3 at the 114:37 mark when sophomore guard Bria Eslick made a jumper.

Lairson brought B-W back with two of four foul shots and sophomore center Simovic scored via an offensive rebound and then made two foul shots at 13:09 to make it 14-9. Peters then gave Wilmington a 16-9 lead with a jumper at 12:56.

A jumper by B-W senior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/ St. Mary's Central Catholic) and a three-pointer by junior guard Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./ Corry Area) cat 10:35 closed the gap to 16-14, but two straight Eslick baskets pushed it back to 20-14 at 9:21.

Following a basket by each team, Wilmington junior guard LeAnn Topp canned two foul shots at 8:02 to make it 24-16. Undaunted, B-W got a rebound basket from sophomore forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) at 6:55 and then three-pointers from Carpenter at 6:15 and freshman Mangas at 5:49 to tie it at 24-24.

After Wilmington sophomore guard Makenzie Wippel gave the Quakers a 26-24 lead at 5:31, Mangas canned a trey at 5:10, Simovic made a jumper at 4:40 and Rohrbach canned one of two foul shots at 3:54 to give B-W the lead at 30-26. The lead grew to 31-26 when Mangas added one of two foul shots at 3:24. Peters ended the 7-0 B-W run with a layup at 2:01 and

Quaker freshman guard Darcie Zirkle made it 31-30 at 1:22 with a jumper.

B-W fought right back and Lairson canned a jumper with 55 seconds left and Carpenter had her third triple of the half with five seconds left to make it 36-30 at the intermission.

In the second half, The Quakers scored the first four points to make it a 36-34 game, but B-W rebuilt its six-point advantage by outscoring Wilmington 10-6, including baskets by Mangas at 13:40 and freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) at 12:58 to lead 46-40.

Wilmington came right back with a pair of hoops by Wippel, the second at 12:29 and created by a turnover off the press, to make it 46-44. Rohrbach ended the brief run with a rebound and basket at 11:17 to make it 48-44. After Wilmington freshman guard Courtney Tucker made it 46-44, the Yellow Jackets went on a 14-6 run, including three-pointers by junior point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) at 7:22 and Lairson at 6:55 to make it 60-50 with 6:36 left.

Following a Quaker basket, Rohrbach scored at 4:29 and a Lairson layup gave B-W a larger lead at 12 points at 64-52 with 3:53. A Mangas triple at 3:33 made it 67-52 and ended matters for all intents and purposes.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Wednesday, February 1 when they host Otterbein University in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m.

Fans can listen to both men's and women's games can live on campus radio station WBWC 88.3 FM, or via the internet at www.wbwc.com.

Media and fans are reminded that the B-W will televise its men's and women's basketball doubleheader on SportsTime Ohio. The games are on Saturday, February 18 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.