By: Athletic Communications Student-Assistant Nate Kilway '22
BEREA, Ohio – The third-seeded Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team lead wire-to-wire in a tight Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal game as it defeated fourth-seeded University Mount Union by a final score of 56-47 in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
With the win, BW (10-4) advances to the championship game and rematch of the last season chanpionhip as it faces top-seed John Carroll University on Saturday, March 6 at 3 p.m. The Yellow Jackets will look to repeat as the tournament chapion for the first time since the schools threepeat in '99, '00, '01.
Mount Union (9-5), who had its nine game winning streak snapped, ends its season.
The Yellow Jackets were led by junior All-OAC forward Lilly Edwards (Dublin/Coffman) as she scored a game high 17 points and a grabbed game-best tying high sevebn rebounds in the Junior Academic All-OAC guard Sydney Snyder (Kirkland) and junior Academic All-OAC forward Maighread Laliberte (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) each added nine points, which was a career-high for Laliberte.
The Purple Raiders were led by senior guard Elena Rauhe as she closed out her career with 10 points and a game-best tying seven rebounds.
BW and Mount Unioncame out the gates firingas the Purple Raiders knocked down four threes in the quarter keeping the game tight. The Yellow Jackets overcame the three-point barrage and took a 19-16 point lead after the first quarter of play.
BW pushed its lead to 21-16 when Snyder converted the traditional three-point play at the 9:01 mark. Mount Union responded and cut the lead down to 28-25 on a three-pointer by Kelsie Glass at 4:20. The Yellow Jackets closed the first-half on a 7-0 run to take a 35-25 lead at the intermission. BW closed out the scoring when Edwards split a pair of free throws with 2:09 remaining.
The Purple Raides cut the lead down to 41-33 on a three-point play by Isi Palamone at the 5:46 mark of the third quarter. The Yellow Jackets quickly responded and extended their lead to 47-40 on a layup by freshman guard/forward Sylvie Sonneman (Jamestown/Greenview) at 1:55. Neither team would score the remainder of the quarter.
Mount Union opened the fourth quarter on a 7-1 run to get to within one-point at 48-47 on the layup by Brianna Gassman at the 2:58 mark. The Purple Raiders would not score the remainder of the game. BW scored the final seven points as and got things rolling on a huge three-pointer by Laliberte at the 1:05. The Yellow Jackets hit five-of-seven free throws down the strectch as Lailberte and junior Academic All-OAC forward Megan Scheibelhut (Avon Lake/Elyria Catholic) each hit a pair and senior Gabby Garrett (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) sunk one.
