BEREA, OHIO – Sophomore guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high-tying nine rebounds as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) University, 67-57, tonight (Wednesday, January 2, 2013) in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center. This was BW's final non-conference game.
With their victory, the Yellow Jackets improved to 6-6 overall and next plays on Saturday, January 5 when they resume Ohio Athletic Conference play by travelling to Marietta, Ohio to play Marietta College in the Ban Johnson Arena at 3:00 p.m. With their loss, the Tartans fell to 8-3.
In addition to Smolik for BW, junior All-OAC guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) and senior All-OAC forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) each contributed 12 points and junior forward Lexi Rohrbach(Tiffin/Columbian) added 10 points. Sophomore guard Gabrielle West led the Tartans with 12 points while freshman forward Liza Otto grabbed a game-high tying nine rebounds..
Carnegie Mellon opened the scoring and took an early, 3-0 lead when freshman guard Lindsay Poss scored on a layup and then junior guard Jacquie Shaw split a pair of free throws at the 18:43 mark. The Yellow Jackets took the lead at 4-3 when Smolik and Lairson each connected on a jumper at 18:07.
After Shaw tied the game at 4-4, BW would go on a 8-1 run to lead 12-5 at the 14:55 mark as Lairson and Rohrbach each scored four points during the run.
The Tartans would cut the lead to 12-7 before the Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 run to take a 17-7 lead with 10:16 remaining. Sophomore guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) scored three points and freshman guard Janaya Feaster (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) added two from the charity stripe.
Carnegie Mellon would respond with an 8-0 run to cut the lead down to 17-15 at 6:21 as Shaw would score four. Smolik snapped the Tartan run at 18-15 as she split a pair of free throws at the 5:57 mark.
BW would outscore Carnegie Mellon 14-10 over the remainder of the half and led 32-25 at the intermission. Rohrbach sparked the run with four points.
In the early stages of the second half, the teams would exchange baskets with the Yellow Jackets holding a 38-28 advantage with 14:20 remaining when freshman forward Erin Allen (Girard, Pa./Girard) knocked down a jumper.
The Tartans responded with a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 38-32 when junior guard Jennifer Elkin hit the jumper at 13:19. The two teams would battle back and forth over the next four minutes with BW holding a 48-40 lead with 9:15 minutes remaining.
The Yellow Jackets would outscore Carnegie Mellon 11-4 over the next four minutes to push their lead to a game-high 15 points at 59-44 when Lairson converted a traditional three-point play at 5:37.
The Tartans went on a 6-0 run to cut the BW lead to 59-50 when Peel scored on a layup with 3:59 remaining. Peel accounted for all six points on the run and scored her 1,000th career-point during the run.
The Yellow Jackets would outscore Carnegie Mellon 8-7 over the remainder of the game to secure the victory.
FOR MORE BW 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 BW athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
