BEREA, OHIO – Sophomore guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) scored a team-high 15 points as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Wilmington College, 75-62, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
 
With its win, BW is 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the OAC and snapped a two-game losing streak. With its loss, Wilmington is 6-4 overall and 2-1 in the OAC and have lost two straight contests.
 
In addition to Smolik for the Yellow Jackets, junior All-OAC guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored 12 rebounds and had a team-leading eight rebounds. Senior two-time All-OAC forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover), who missed the first four games this season with an injury, had 10 points.  Wilmington Senior forward Brianna Peters led all scorers with 19 points and tied for game-high honors with 10 rebounds.
 
BW got off to an early, 7-0 lead at the 17:46 mark when Smolik made a three-pointer. The lead grew to 10-2 at 16:33 when Lairson made a triple of her own. After Wilmington cut the lead to 14-10 on a foul shot by senior guard Shelby Kies at 13:59, the Yellow Jackets went on a 10-0 run to take a 24-10 advantage with 10:22 left when senior four-year starting point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) canned a trey.

BW continues to increased its lead to a first half high of 19 points at 33-14 with 5:24 left when freshman guard Erin Allen (Girard, Pa.) made her second straight jump shot to end another 6-0 run. Wilmington bounced back to out-score BW 15-5 the remainder of the first session to trail 38-29 at the intermission.

BW scored the first four points of the second half to build a 13-point lead at 42-29 at 19:16 off two layups by Smolik and Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy).  The Quakers would fight back with a 11-5 run and cut the deficit to seven points to make the score 47-40 at 12:50 when senior forward Bria Eslick made one of two foul shots.

Undaunted, BW scored five straight points to make it 52-40 at 11:21 when sophomore guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) made a three-pointer. The Quakers went on an 8-0 run to get as close as 52-48 with 7:19 left when sophomore guard Spencer Robles made two foul shots. BW then went on its own 6-0 run to regain a 10-point bulge at 58-48 with 6:29 left when Carpenter scored, was fouled and completed the three-point play by making her foul shot.

The Yellow Jackets closed out the game by making nine of their last 12 foul shots in the last 2:35, including four by Rossman. 
 
BW is back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 19 when it travels to Alliance to play OAC-rival the University of Mount Union at 7:30 p.m. The next home game is on Saturday, Dec. 22 versus Otterbein University 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.