BEREA, Ohio – Junior guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic)  scored a career-high 24 points, but the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team lost to Capital University, 83-77, in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.   Capital advances to Saturday's OAC Championship Game at 3:00 p.m. in Ada and will play third-seeded Ohio Northern University, who beat No.2-seeded John Carroll University, 80-71.

With its win, Capital is 18-8 overall and was led by senior forward Jamie Caton with a game-high 27 points. Senior guard Cookie Gerisko also had 16 points. The Crusaders have now beaten BW seven straight times, including three times this season.

BW ends its regular season at 20-6 and now must await the NCAA Tournament announcement on Sunday to see if it will get a shot at an at-large berth in the national tourney.

Capital opened the game on a 10-2 run after sophomore forward Kristen Thompson made a jumper with 13:44 left.  The Yellow Jackets answered back with a 7-2 run to cut the lead down to 12-9 when senior center Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) made a jumper at the 11:12 mark.

The Crusaders would use a 9-3 run to extend their lead to 21-12 on a three-pointer by freshman guard Lauren Stefancin with 7:21 remaining.  BW would answer back by going on an 11-2 run to tie the game at 23-23 after senior three-time All-OAC forward Jessica Lairson (Louisville) made a pair of free throws at the 4:44 mark.  The Yellow Jackets closed out the half with a 6-5 advantage to lead 29-28 at the intermission.

Over the first four minutes in the second half, both teams went back and forth with Capital taking a one point lead at 38-37 with 15:51 left.  BW would reclaim their lead after going on an 8-3 run capped off by a three pointer by sophomore guard Ally Dehart (Beaver, Pa./ Beaver) at the 13:41 mark to make it 45-41.

Capital answered back by going on 14-5 run to grab a 55-50 lead with 7:22 left. The Yellow Jackets decreased Capital's lead to 66-64 after Mangas made a contested three-pointer at the 3:13 mark. BW was able to regain the lead with 41 seconds left after sophomore guard Janaya Feaster (Akron/ Archbishop Hoban) made a pair of free throws to make it 69-68.

Gage gave Capital a 71-69 lead with one of two foul shots with 20 seconds left and Caton added one of two for a 72-69 lead with four seconds left. Following a BW timeout, Smolik bured a triple at the buzzer to tie it at 72-72 and send the game to overtime.

In the extra session, Capital gained a 74-72 lead at 3:41 when it split four foul shots. BW tied it at 74-74 at 2:39 when Mangas connected on two charity tosses. Gage put Capital on top 76-74 with a jumper at 2:28. Geroski made it 78-74 with a jumper at 1:59. Sophomore guard Allyson Helleis (Rocky River) cut the lead to 78-77 with a trey at 1:37. Caton made it 80-77 with 30.8 seconds left when she made a layup, was fouled but missed the free throw.

The Crusaders increased their lead to 81-77 when Geroski made one of two free throws with 11.8 seconds left to seal the win.

The winner of Saturday's OAC Championship Game receives an automatic berth in this year's NCAA Division III National Tournament.

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.