Women Fall to No.7 Mount Union

Posted: Feb 15, 2012

BEREA, OHIO – Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) scored 16 points but the Baldwin-Wallace women's basketball team fell to No.7-ranked (D3hoops.com national poll) University of Mount Union, 65-58, tonight (Wednesday, February 15, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.

With the loss, the Yellow Jackets dropped to 15-9 overall and 10-7 in the OAC. With the win, the Purple Raiders clinched the OAC regular season title for the second straight season, won their 18th straight game and improved to 23-1 overall and 16-1 in the OAC. Mount Union will enter next week's OAC Tournament as the top seed and will be seeking its third straight OAC Tournament title. B-W will enter next week's OAC Tournament as either the fourth or fifth seed.

In addition to Carpenter for the Yellow Jackets, sophomore forward Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) scored a career-high tying 12 points. Senior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/St. Mary's Central Catholic) grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. The Purple Raiders were led by junior guard Rosa LaMattina with a game-high 19 points, senior guard Kori Wiedt tallied 14 and senior forward Amanda Rose added 13.

B-W opened the scoring, 2-0 when Lairson hit a jumper at the 19:13 mark. Mount Union would respond with a 4-0 run to take an early 4-2 advantage with 18:22 remaining on a pair of baskets by Weidt and Rose.

Over the next three minutes, the teams would exchange baskets and the game was tied on three occasions with the last coming at 13:25 on a jumper by freshman forward Laurel Thomas (Canton/Canton Central Catholic).

After a jumper, 12-10, by Simovic, the Purple Raiders would go on a 7-0 run to take five point lead, 17-12, on a pair of free throws by Weidt with 10:35 to play.

The Yellow Jackets would go on a 5-0 run of their own to tie the game for the fifth time in the half, 17-17, at the 8:24 mark as Carpenter scored all five points, including a traditional three-point play.

B-W would go up 21-20 on a jumper by Carpenter with 6:46 remaining. Mount Union would then go on an 11-0 run to take a 10-point lead, 31-21, on a tip-in by Rose at 3:44.

The Yellow Jackets would outscore the Purple Raiders 9-6 over the remainder of the half to trail 37-30 at the intermission.

In the second half, Mount Union would open the scoring, 39-30, on a fastbreak by LaMattina with 19:31 remaining. B-W would respond, 39-32, on a layup by Spisak at 18:37. The Yellow Jackets would cut the lead to three points, 41-38, on a jumper by Simovic with 17:06 left to play.

Over the next three minutes, the Purple Raiders would push the lead back to seven points, 49-42, on a three-pointer by Weidt at the 12:55 mark.

B-W would cut the lead back to two points, 52-50, on a pair of three-pointers by junior guard Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./Corry Area) and freshman guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) with the last coming with 10:05 left to play.

After Mount Union pushed the lead back to six points, 56-50, the Yellow Jackets would go on a 4-0 run to cut the lead back down to two points, 56-52, on a pair of free throws by Carpenter at 7:58.

The Purple Raiders would outscore B-W 9-6 over the remainder of the game to secure the 65-58 victory.

The Yellow Jackets will close out the regular season this Saturday, February 18 when they host Ohio Northern University in the first game of a women's and men's OAC and SportsTime Ohio doubleheader on Seniors' and Parents' Day at 2:00 p.m. The men's game tips off at 4:00 p.m. Fans can listen to both the women's and men's games live on campus radio station WBWC 88.3 FM "The Sting" or via the internet at www.wbwc.com The pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to tipoff.

Media and fans are reminded that that Saturday's women's game will be shown three times on SportsTime Ohio. The dates and times are February 18 at 11:00 p.m. And February 19 at 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The men's game will be televised twice, on Saturday night at 9:00 p.m. and on Monday, February 20 at 7:00 a.m. B-W has broadcast more of its athletics events on regional cable TV than any other Division III school.

In addition on February 18, the B-W men's team will host the Fourth Annual "Take a Kid to the Game" Day. Children up to the eighth grade will be admitted for free when accompanied by an adult. Prior to tipoff, children can have their faces painted by the B-W Cheerleaders or can play games with the cheerleaders and "Stinger", the Yellow Jacket mascot. Following the game, B-W student-athletes and coaches will be available to sign autographs.

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.