By: Cannon Dees '20

BEREA, Ohio- In a dominant performance, the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Heidelberg University 78-54 in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup inside Ursprung Gymnasium.

Freshman forward Lilly Edwards (Dublin/Coffman) led the Yellow Jackets (13-5, 7-4 OAC) in scoring with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting in her first start of the season. Junior Academic All-OAC guard Kasey Hughes (Springboro) was right behind, contributing 15 points. Junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC guard Riley Schill (Sheffield Village/Elyria Catholic) tacked on 13 points in the victory. Edwards also led the rebounding effort with seven boards.

The Student Princes' (8-10, 4-7 OAC) were led by junior forward Madelyn Crawford who scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Sophomore guard Brooke Beamer added 10 points to Heidelberg's efforts.

After allowing the first basket of the game, Baldwin Wallace came out firing and went on a 10-0 run led by Edwards' five points. After each team exchanged a couple baskets, the Yellow Jacket's took off once again by scoring 12 unanswered points in a span of four minutes. Hughes had the hot hand, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc. The Student Princes found their rhythm as time wound down, scoring four points in the final two minutes to end with a score of 24-10.

Deep shots continued to fall for the Jackets as they started the second quarter with freshman guard Megan Hensel (Upper Sandusky) and senior Academic All-OAC guard MacKenzi Matthews (North Royalton) each adding to the 31-12 lead. As the half went on and the heat of the three-ball died down, Heidelberg found themselves on the better end of a 6-2 run until a big block by sophomore forward Sydney Diedrich (Chardon/Gilmour Academy) sparked a Yellow Jacket 8-2 run to close out the half at 41-21.

The Student Princes opened the scoring in the second half, going on a 6-0 run in the first two minutes. A Schill three-pointer at the 7:59 mark engaged a shootout between the two teams, with a 10-10 score line for the ensuing three minutes. However, some quick ball movement saw the Jackets extend their lead to 24 with a minute left to play in the third quarter by a score of 65-41. Heidelberg saw out the third quarter with a five-point run to keep the deficit under 20.

Defense was the theme for the fourth quarter as only 21 points were scored between the two teams. However, the 20-point lead was too much for the Student Princes to overcome in the final quarter of play as the Yellow Jackets closed the game out with a score of 78-54.

BW will travel to New Concord Saturday, January 26, to take on Muskingum University at 3 p.m. inside the Anne C. Steele Center.