HOLLAND, MICHIGAN – Junior forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) scored nine points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated non-league foe Bluffton University, 89-45, in the first round of the Hope (Mich.) College Holiday Invitational in the DeVos Fieldhouse. BW now plays the winner of host and No.7-ranked Hope versus Finlandia (Mich.) University in tomorrow's championship game at 3:00 p.m.
  
With its win, BW is 5-5 overall. With its loss, Bluffton also is 5-5 overall.
 
In addition to Rohrbach for the Yellow Jackets, senior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) scored a team-high 11 points and freshman guard Janaya Feaster (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) came off the bench to score 10 first half points. Freshman guard Brooke Ruffer led Bluffton with a game-high 14 points.

For the game, BW played all 19 of its student-athletes and 17 of them scored points.  The starters did not play more than 14 minutes, and Rohrbach logged a team-high 16 minutes. The keys to the win were holding the Beavers to 20.3 percent field goal shooting, including 1-of-6 from three-point range. BW also outrebounded Bluffton, 63-49, including 25 offensive caroms and made seven of its first 17 three-point attempts.
 
The Yellow Jackets got off to an early, 6-0 lead at the 16:55 mark when junior center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) made a jump shot. After Bluffton got on the scoreboard, BW went on an 11-4 run to lead 17-6 lead at the 11:30 mark when Carpenter made a three-pointer. That caused the Beavers to call a timeout.

The BW women did not let up following the timeout as the Jackets went on another 12-2 run, including another Carpenter three-point field goal as well as an old-fashioned three-point play to give her team a 29-8 lead with 8:10 left in the first stanza.  The Yellow Jackets continued their "hot" shooting from three-point range as Feaster made two and senior guard Amber Boyd (Middleburg Heights/ Regina) made one as BW extended its lead to 28 and went into the locker room with a 51-23 lead.
 
In the second half, Bluffton opened the scoring at the 19:19 mark, but BW answered right back with a triple from senior guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) at the 18:17 mark to push the Yellow Jacket lead to 54-25.  BW had another 10-6 run, including another Rossman trey to lead 64-31 at the 12:07 mark.

BW continued its dominance as the Yellow Jackets went on a 14-9 run to lead 78-40 at the 5:29 mark. The run included four points from senior guard and scholar-athlete Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./ Corry Area) and three points from freshman guard She'Kiera Brooks (Stow/Woodridge).  In the final 5:29 of the game, the Jackets finished on an 11-5 run to give BW its largest lead of the game of 44 points.

After playing No.7-ranked Hope in the Championship Game tomorrow, BW returns to Berea and hosts Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) University in its final non-league game on Wednesday, January 2 at 7:30 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.