BEREA, OHIO – The Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team scored a season-high 94 points and won its fifth straight game by defeating Heidelberg University, 94-59, tonight (Wednesday, January 16, 2013) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
With its win, BW is 10-6 overall and 5-4 in the OAC and has beaten Heidelberg 20 straight times dating back to January 20, 2004 to increase its all-time series advantage to 51-22. With its loss, Heidelberg drops to 5-11 overall and 1-8 in the OAC and lost for the second straight time.
The Yellow Jackets had four player score in double figures led by junior All-OAC guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) as she scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Junior forwards Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) and Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/Columbian) along with freshman guard Melissa Munro (Mansfield/Lexington) all scored 10 points. Senior guard Jordan Ickes led the Student Princes with a game-high 16 points.
BW got off to an early start with a 5-0 run ending with Lairson hitting a jumper with 18:27 remaining in the first half. Heidelberg went on a 7-0 run and took the lead 7-5 when Ickes made a layup at the 16:31 mark. Both teams continued to keep it close, trading baskets for the rest of the half. There where two lead changes and five ties as Baldwin Wallace went into halftime with the lead by a score of 38-32.
In the second half, Heidelberg started off with the first basket from junior guard Kathleen Phillips made a jumper to cut BW's lead to 38-34 with 17:59 left in the half. BW then answered with a 6-0 run when senior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) hit two free throws at the 16:48 mark to extend BW's lead 42-34. Heidelberg then responded with a 4-0 run when junior guard Megan Miller split a pair of free throws at the 15:26 mark to cut into the Yellow Jacket lead 42-38.
Then, Baldwin Wallace went on a 17-0 run when Lairson hit a three-point shot at the 12:32 mark to extend the Yellow Jacket lead to 61-38. Heidelberg ended the run when Miller made a pair of free throws at the 12:12 mark to cut the BW lead 61-40.
BW then outscored the Student Princes 33-19 for the rest of the half to help the Yellow Jackets to their fifth straight victory 94-59.
With her two assists today, senior point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) now has 322 career assists and ranks fifth all-time in BW school history. She needs four more to surpass Danielle Spanski (1991-94), who ranks fourth with 325 career assists. Rossman also started her 96th straight game tonight. In addition and with her victory today, 23-year BW Head Coach Cheri Harrer's record improved to 461-169. Harrer is the second winningest women's coach in OAC history.
This Saturday, January 19, the BW men and women will host an OAC doubleheader against arch-rival Capital University that will be televised by SportsTime Ohio. The women's game is at 2:00 p.m. and the men play at 4:00 p.m. The women's game also will air on STO on Saturday night at 11:00 p.m. and again on Monday, January 21 at 7:00 a.m. The men's game will air on Saturday night at 9:00 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 20 at 4:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7:00 a.m.
Saturday also is the Fourth Annual "Take a Kid to the Game" Day. For more information on "Take a Kid to the Game", please visit our website at http://www.bwyellowjackets.com/athletics/takg13.
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.
