WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Junior forward Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) scored a game-high 19 points and senior forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) had a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference rival Otterbein University, 81-69, in an OAC game at the Rike Center. The win was BW's fourth straight.

In addition to Smolik and Rohrbach for BW, now 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the OAC, senior two-time All-OAC forward Jessica Lairson (Louisville) and junior guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) each had 15 points.  Otterbein, now 5-7 overall and 1-4 in the OAC, had five players score in double figures and was led by freshman forward Taylor Pifher with 16 points.

In the first half, the Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 lead at 19:30 when sophomore forward Amariah Huck made a jumper. BW came right back to take a 3-2 lead at 19:21 when Lairson made a three-pointer. After Otterbein gained a 4-3 lead at 19:06, BW went on a 10-0 run to take a 13-4 lead at 14:40 when Smolik made a layup to complete a fastbreak.

The BW lead grew to 13 points at 21-8 at 12:15 when sophomore guard Allyson Helleis (Rocky River) made a layup to end another Yellow Jacket fastbreak.  The Cardinals cut the lead to seven at 23-16 at 9:29 when junior guard Chelsea Reed, but BW's Smolik (10 points) and Mangas (six) combined to outscore Otterbein 16-10 and rebuild the lead to 39-26 with 3:02 left before the intermission.  BW also led at halftime, 41-28.
  
In the second half, BW maintained its 13-point advantage in the early stages, including the last time at 49-36 with 14:33 left when Rohrbach grabbed an offensive rebound and scored.  The Cardinals went on a 21-11 run to close to three points at 60-57 with 5:39 left when Pifher canned a jumper.  The lead was just two points at 61-59 when Pifher made another short jumper at 5:05.

Undaunted, BW added a foul shot from sophomore backup center Sam Hamar (Galion) at 4:56 and Lairson and sophomore guard Alissa Munro (Mansfield/ Lexington) canned back-to-back three-pointers at 4:47 and 4:04 to push the lead back to nine points at 68-59. The Yellow Jackets outscored the Cardinals, 13-10 the rest of the way.

BW is back in action on Saturday, January 11 when they host Ohio Athletic Conference rival Marietta College in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 3:00 p.m. BW also hosts OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University in Ursprung Gym on Wednesday, Jan. 15 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]kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at [jefmille@bw.edu]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 athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.