Women End Season With Loss to Capital

Posted: Feb 21, 2012

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) scored a game-high 22 points but the fifth-seeded Baldwin-Wallace women's basketball team fell to fourth-seeded Capital University , 63-54, tonight (Tuesday, February 21, 2012) in a second round OAC Tournament game in the Capital Center.

With the loss, the Yellow Jackets end their season with a record of 17-10 overall. The Crusaders improved to 18-8 and advance to play No.1-seed the University of Mount Union (24-1 overall) in a semifinal game in Alliance on Thursday, February 23 at the McPherson Academic & Athletic Complex at 7:30 p.m.

In addition to Carpenter for B-W, sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) contributed 11 points . Capital had three players score in double figures led by sophomore guard Cookie Geroski with 19. Senior guard Hillary Kuhns, and sophomore forward Jamie Caton each tallied 10.

Capital opened the scoring, 2-0, when junior forward Stacy Timmerman hit a jumper at the 19:13 mark. B-W tied the game, 2-2, when Carpenter knocked down a pair of free throws with 17:43 remaining.

The Crusaders regained the lead, 4-2, on jumper by Kuhns nailed a jumper at 16:43. After two minutes of scoreless action, Lairson tied the game, 4-4, on a layup with 14:15 left to play.

Capital would respond with a 7-0 run, to push its lead to four points, 9-4, on a pair jumper s by Caton and a three-pointer from junior guard Rebekah Will at 11:59. The Yellow Jackets snapped the run, 9-6, when senior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/St. Mary's Central Catholic) grabbed an offensive rebound and followed with the bucket with 9:25 remaining in the half.

The Crusaders would go a 7-2 run to extend their lead to eight points, 16-8, on a jumper by Timmerman at 6:39. B-W responded with a 10-2 run of its own to cut the lead down to two points, 18-16, on a layup by Carpenter with 2:06 left to play.

Capital would outscore the Yellow Jackets 4-2 over the remainder of the half to take a four-point lead, 22-18, into the intermission.

In the second half, Lairson opened the scoring, 22-20, when she buried a jumper in the paint at 19:22. The Crusaders got their first points of the half, 24-20, on a layup by Caton with 18:55 to play.

Over the next four minutes, the teams would battle back and forth before junior guard Megan Frisina (Corry Pa./Corry Area) would dial up a three-pointer to cut the lead down to three-points, 32-29, at 14:21.

Capital would respond with a 4-0 run to push the lead back up to seven points, 36-29, on a jumper and fast break layup by sophomore guard Cookie Geroski with 13:21 remaining. B-W would respond with a 6-0 run of its own to cut the lead back down to three points, 36-33, on jumpers by Lairson and freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) at 12:08.

After exchanging baskets, the Crusaders would go on 8-0 run to push the lead back to nine points, 50-39, on three straight jumpers by Kuhns and a pair of free throws by Caton with 7:09 left to play. The run would be snapped as Carpenter spilt a pair of free throws at 6:16.

The Yellow Jackets outscored Capital 15-13 over the remainder of the game but came up short as the Crusaders won the game 63-54.

The Women's OAC Championship Game is at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the site of the highest remaining seeded team. The winner of the OAC Tournament receives an automatic berth in next week's NCAA Division III National Tournament.

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.