MAITLAND, FLORIDA -- Sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville/ Senior) scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds as the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team defeated Olivet (Mich.) College, 54-50, tonight (Wednesday, December 28, 2011) in its first game of the RDV Classic, hosted by Hope (Mich.) College in the RDV Sportsplex, the practice facility of the NBAs Orlando Magic. The Yellow Jackets (7-4) play No. 17-ranked Hope tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.

In addition to Lairson for B-W, junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) had 12 points. The key to the win was rebounding as B-W outrebounded Olivet, 45-38, including 23-9 on the offensive end of the court. Olivet (2-9) was led by sophomore guard Kelsey Campbell with a game-high 16 points.

The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring at the 19:30 mark when Lairson made a jump shot.  The Comets then grabbed control and went on a 11-0 run to take an 11-2 lead at the 12:58 mark when junior forward Kaleigh Hill made a jumper.

B-W got back into the game by scoring three straight points to cut the lead to 11-5 at the 12:10 mark when sophomore forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) made one of two foul shots. After Olivet gained an eight-point lead at 13-5, Lairson cut the deficit to four points at 13-9 at 10:02 when Lairson canned back-to-back jumpers. The run continued when junior point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) canned a jumper at 9:09 to make it 13-11.

B-W tied the game at 13-13 at 8:20 when All-Ohio Athletic Conference junior guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) made a layup. The Comets then ended the eight point run at 7:59 when junior forward SoQuitta DeShazor made a jumper.  Undaunted, B-W junior guard Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./ Corry Area) made a steal and then canned a three-pointer to help the Yellow Jackets retake the lead at 16-15 at 7:20.

The Jackets increased their lead to 18-15 when freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) made a jumper at 6:13, but Olivet's Campbell tied it at 18-18 with a trey at 5:54. After the game was tied again at 20-20, 22-22 and 24-24, Olivet took a 28-24 advantage when junior forward Sydney Radde made a jumper in the lane with 19 seconds left before the intermission. The Comets led by the same score at halftime.

In the second half, Carpenter cut the Olivet lead to 28-26 with 19:06 left when she made a pair of foul shots. Lairson tied it at 28-28 at 18:34 when Lairson made a jumper.  And, Rohrbach gave the lead back to B-W at 30-28 when she grabbed an offensive rebound and scored at 17:44. The lead grew to 31-28 at 17:12 when Smolik made one of two charity tosses.  The run ended when Olivet's Lauwers made a jumper at 16:43 to make the score 31-30.

Smolik increased the lead to three points at 33-30 at 15:38 when Smolik made two foul shots. Following two missed Olivet free throws and several possessions, B-W took at 35-30 lead when sophomore center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/ Parma Normandy) blocked a Comet shot and then was on the receiving end of a Rossman pass to complete a fastbreak layup.  The lead then grew to 37-30 at 12:20 when Carpenter made a layup via another Rossman assist to end a fastbreak.

B-W gained an eight-point bulge at 38-30 when Carpenter made one of two foul shots at 11:52. The run ended as Olivet sophomore guard Rachel Wagner made back-to-back jumpers to make the score 38-34 with 11:00 left. Carpenter then pushed the lead back to six at 40-34 at 10:44 when Carpenter made a jumper.

After a Campbell triple cut the lead to 40-37 at 10:12, Smolik gave the Jackets a five-point lead at 42-37 at 9:58 with a jumper. Radde again cut the lead back to three at 42-39 at 8:48, but Smolik knocked down her own jumper at 8:22 to push it back to five at 44-39. Then Hill made it a one possession game again at 44-41 at 7:53 when she nailed a jump shot and Campbell made it a one-point game at 44-43 with a layup at 7:06.

Rohrbach pushed the lead to 45-43 at 5:26 when she made one of two foul shots. Olivet's Wagner then tied the game at 45-45 at 3:41 wen she mae a jump shot. But Carpenter hit a key three-pointer at 3:17 to put B-W back on top at 3:17. Then following a Comet miss, freshman forward Jena Andreas (Pickerington/ North) made it a six-point lead at 51-45 with a three of her own at 2:40.

DeShazor closed the gap to 51-47 with a hook shot at 1:13. Following a B-W miss by Carpenter, Comet sophomore guard Lindsey Winters canned a three-pointer from well behind the three-point arc at 28 seconds left to close the gap to 51-50.  Following a missed B-W foul shot and an Olivet rebound, DeShazor grabbed a rebound off another Winters three-point attempt and was fouled with 11 seconds left.

Following a B-W timeout, DeShazor missed both foul shots and Rossman grabbed the rebound and was fouled. After missing the first foul shot, she grabbed her own rebound and was fouled again with seven seconds left. She made the first for a 52-50 lead, but missed the second. Luckily, Lairson grabbed the rebound and was fouled.  Her two foul shots with one second remaining both "iced" the game and gave her team-high scoring honors.

The Yellow Jackets return to Ohio Athletic Conference action on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 when they host OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 7:30 p.m.  B-W also hosts OAC-rival Capital University in Berea on Jan. 7 at 3:00 p.m.

Media and fans are reminded that the B-W will televise two men's and women's basketball doubleheaders on regional cable network SportsTime Ohio. The games are the January 28 doubleheader versus Wilmington and the February 18 twinbill 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.