Posted: Dec 29, 2012
HOLLAND, MICHIGAN – Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds but the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team lost 82-60 to No.7-ranked and unbeaten Hope (Mich.) College today (Saturday, December 29, 2012) in the Championship Game of the Hope Holiday Invitational in the DeVos Fieldhouse. Lairson earned all-tournament team honors for her efforts.
With its win, Hope remained unbeaten and improved to 12-0 overall. With its loss, BW falls to 5-6 overall and returns to play next Wednesday, January 2, 2013 when it hosts non-league foe Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 7:30 p.m..
In addition to Lairson for BW, senior guard Amber Boyd (Middleburg Heights/ Regina) scored a career-high nine points and junior center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/ Normandy) contributed seven points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Hope had three players score in double figures and was led by senior guard Liz Ellis with 21 points. In addition to Ellis, senior forward Courtney Kust tallied 17 points and sophomore center Rebekah Llorens added 10 points.
Despite the loss, the Yellow Jackets were 22-25 from the foul line for 88 percent compared the Flying Dutch connecting on nine of 14 from the charity stripe.
Hope got off to an early lead at 3-0 when Liz Ellis made a three-pointer at the 19:41 mark. BW responded with a jumper from senior guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) at 19:21 to cut the lead down to 3-2.
The teams exchanged baskets over the next four minutes before the Flying Dutch went on a 10-3 run to push their lead to 22-14 on a triple by sophomore guard Brittany Berry with 12:33 remaining in the first half. Junior All-OAC forward Lairson responded with a jump shot in the paint to cut the lead to 22-16 at 12:02.
Hope pushed their lead to 44-26 after going on a 20-10 run after Courtney Kust made a jumper with 5:17 left in the stanza.
The Yellow Jackets closed out the half by going on a 9-4 run of their own to cut the Flying Dutch lead to 48-35 at the intermnission. During the BW run, junior center Simovic scored three and freshman guard Erin Allen (Girard, Pa.), sophomore guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville), freshman guard Janaya Feaster (Akron/ Archbishop Hoban) all contributed two points.
Hope opened the second half on a 6-0 run and would never looked back. The Flying Dutch would push their lead to as many as 25 points on two occasions with the last coming at 80-55 on a jumper by senior center Meredith Kussmaul with 3:36 left.
After playing Carnegie Mellon on Jan. 2, BW returns to Ohio Athletic Conference action when it travels to Marietta, Ohio on Saturday, January 5 to play Marietta College in the Ban Johnson Arena 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.
