BEREA, OHIO – Sophomore guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) had a career-game as she recorded her first career double-double, scoring a career-high 24 points and grabbing a career-high tying 10 rebounds as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Marietta College, 79-67, today (Saturday, February 9, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.

With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 14-9 overall and 9-7 in the OAC. It gave them a season sweep of Marietta and extended their winning streak over the Pioneers to four games in a row and increased the all-time series lead to 46-14.  With its loss, Marietta is 8-15 overall and 3-13 in the OAC and ended a two-game winning streak.

In addition to Smolik for BW, junior All-OAC guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds and junior forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/Columbian) also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Marietta was led by senior guard Krissy Rowe and junior guard Tori Dixon who each scored a team-high 14 points.
 
Baldwin Wallace got on the board first at 19:44 when senior guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) nailed a floater to give them an early 2-0 lead. Marietta then answered with a 6-0 run at 16:05 capped off by a layup by Rowe.

 

Undaunted, the Yellow Jackets would retake the lead 15-8 with a 13-2 run at 11:16 ending with Rohrbach making a layup. The Pioneers would then cut BW's lead to five outscoring them 6-4 at 8:51 when freshman forward Emily Jones made a layup making the score 19-14.

 

BW would then extend their lead to 25-14 with another 6-0 run at 6:46 when Smolik made a layup. Then at 4:44 Marietta would cut BW's lead to single digits at 27-19 with a 5-2 run when sophomore forward Candice Alexander made a free throw to complete a three-point play.

 

The Pioneers cut the Yellow Jacket lead to 35-30 at the end of the half outscoring the Yellow Jackets 11-7 in the final four minutes.

 

In the second half, BW scored first at 19:53 when Lairson made a layup making the score 37-30. Marietta would reduce the Yellow Jacket lead to one, 43-42, with a 12-6 run at 16:03 when sophomore forward Heather Booth hit a free throw to compete a three-point play.

 

Then, the Yellow Jackets would extend their lead to 57-45 at 11:48 with a 14-3 run when freshman guard Janaya Feaster (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) made two free throws. The Pioneers would then cut the BW lead to single digits again with a 4-0 run when Alexander made a jumper making the score 57-49 at the 10:44 mark.

 

BW then extended their lead to 67-51 with a 10-2 run at 8:18 capped off by Lairson draining a three-pointer. Marietta then cut back into BW's lead 69-58 with a 7-2 run at 5:53 ending with Jones making a layup.

 

Baldwin Wallace would close out the game outscoring Marietta 10-9 in the final five minutes, earning them the 79-67 win.

 

BW is back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 13 when it travels to Tiffin, Ohio to play OAC-rival Heidelberg University in the Seiberling Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m.

On Saturday, February 16, the BW women and men host OAC-rival Muskingum University in a doubleheader in Berea. The twinbill will be taped by S&S Video Productions and televised by regional cable TV network SportsTime Ohio. The women's game will air on Saturday night at 11:00 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 17 at 4:00 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 18 at 5:00 a.m. The men's game will air on Saturday night at 9:00 p.m., Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and Monday at 7:00 a.m. BW has televised more of its athletics events on regional cable television than any other small college in the country.

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.