WESTERVILLE, OHIO -- Sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored 15  points but the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team fell to 24-ranked (D3hoops.com national poll) Otterbein University, 64-59, tonight (Tuesday, December 20, 2011) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rike Center.

With the loss,  the Yellow Jackets fell to 6-4 overall and 2-3 in the OAC.  The Cardinals improved to 9-1 overall and 4-1 in the OAC.

In addition to the Lairson for B-W,  freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) scored 12 points, junior All-OAC forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) added 11 points and senior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/St. Mary's Central Catholic) scored a season-high tying 10 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.   Otterbein was led by Kristi Kotterman scored a game-high 16 points and Shea McCoy and Tabatha Piper each contributed 10.

The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring, 2-0, when junior forward Nancy Coulter (Washington Court House/Miami Trace) grabbed the offensive rebound and scored the layup at the 18:03 mark .

The two teams would battle back and forth as the game was tied on three occasions with the last coming at 13-13 on a three-pointer by Lairson with 9:01 remaining. 

The Cardinals then used a 7-0 run to push their lead to seven points, 20-13, on a layup by Chelsea Cannon at 4:11.  Otterbein would outscored the Yellow Jackets 10-9 over the remainder of the half to take a to a 30-22 lead into the intermission.

Otterbein would open up the second half by canning two three-pointers by McCoy and Kotterman to extend the lead to 36-24 at the 17:59 mark.  The Cardinals would push the lead to as many as 12 points, 41-29, on a three-pointer by Allie Leopard at 15:03.
 
B-W would then go on an 8-0 run to cut the lead down to four points, 41-37, on a layup by Spisak with 9:12 left in the game.  The Yellow Jackets continued to battle back and cut the lead down to one point, 54-53, on a three-pointer by Lairson at the 3:27 mark. 

Otterbein would outscore B-W 10-6 over the remainder of the game and sealed the 64-59 victory on a pair of free throws by Piper with three seconds left.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action on December 28-29 when they will travel to Orlando, Florida to compete in the RDV Tournament hosted by Hope (Mich.) College.   B-W opens the tournament on Wednesday, December,28 with a game versus Olivet (Mich.) College at 6:00 p.m.  The Yellow Jackets will conclude the tournament on Thursday,  December 29 with a game against Hope at 3:00 p.m. The next home game is on Wednesday, January 4 when the team will host Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University at 7:30 p.m.

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.