SPRINGFIELD, OHIO – Sophomore guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) scored a game-high 16 points as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team beat rival Wittenberg University, 66-55, tonight in a non-conference game in the Pam Evans Smith Arena.
With its win, BW is 3-1 overall and next plays on Wednesday, December 5th in its Ohio Athletic Conference opener at Ohio Northern University at 7:30 p.m. With its loss, Wittenberg is 1-3 overall.
BW got off to an early, 5-0 lead at the 17:14 mark when freshman Alissa Munro (Mansfield/ Lexington) made a three-pointer.
Wittenberg scored the next nine points to take a 9-5 lead at 14:38 when sophomore guard Amber Lara made a jump shot from the top of the key.
BW closed the gap to 9-8 at 13:35 when Rohrbach made one of two foul shots. The Yellow Jackets gained a 13-12 lead when Rohrbach made a layup at 11:24. The lead grew to 18-12 at 8:40 when Munro canned her second triple of the first stanza.
BW led 20-13 before Wittenberg scored five straight points to close the gap to 20-18 at 4:29 when sophomore forward when freshman forward Katelyn Haralamos made two foul shots. BW outscored the Tigers 9-7 the remainder of the half to lead 29-25 at the intermission.
BW scored the first five points of the second half to build a 10-point lead at 35-25 at 15:06 when senior center Nancy Coulter (Washington Court House/ Miami Trace) made one of two foul shots.
The Tigers came right back to score four straight points to close the deficit to 35-29 before Smolik canned a trey at 13:57 to push the lead back to 38-29.
After the Tigers cut the lead to five at 38-33 at 10:23, BW got baskets from Lairson at 10:23 and a layup from senior guard Amber Boyd (Middleburg Heights/Regina) at 9:14 to restore the nine-point lead at 42-33. The lead grew to 14 points at 48-34 at 7:00 when Rohrbach made one of two foul shots.
BW led by 15 points at 51-36 at 5:51 when junior center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) made one of two foul shots.
Wittenberg outscored the Yellow Jackets 8-1 to close to 52-44 at 4:15 left when Small made two foul shots.
The Tigers cut the lead to seven at 54-47 with 3:13 left but Smolik hit a jumper at 2:52 and a trey at 2:20 and Lairson added a foul shot at 1:59 to give BW a 12-point bulge at 60-48.
Again Wittenberg came back with a 5-0 run to close to seven at 60-53, but four straight BW points countered that effort and ended matters.
Following its game at ONU, BW is back in action on Saturday, December 8th when it travels to Bexley to play Capital University in an OAC game in the Capital Center at 4:00 p.m. The Yellow Jackets open the home schedule on Saturday, December 15th versus Wilmington College in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 3:00 p.m.
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.
