MARIETTA, Ohio - The No. 13/17 nationally ranked and third-seeded Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team took on the second-seeded Marietta College Pioneers in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinal inside the Ban Johnson Arena. The Yellow Jackets battled until the end but came up short, falling to the Pioneers by a 71-65 final score.
BW (22-5, 14-4 OAC) was led by sophomore guard Emily Irwin (Pickerington/Pataskala Watkins Memorial) as she led all scorers and notched a career-high 29 points. Junior guard Carolyn Wochele (Mentor) posted 12 points, shooting 5-8 from the field and 2-4 from beyond the arc.
Marietta (20-6, 14-4 OAC) was led by senior All-OAC guard Devin Hefner and senior All-OAC forward Erin Hahn as they each totaled 17 points.
FIRST HALF
- BW struck first, getting out to a 4-0 lead after layups by sophomore forward Bella Vaillant (Perrysburg) and Irwin.
- After the Pioneers went up 10-6, the Yellow Jackets got a few stops and converted on the offensive end, and with a three by junior forward Kira Philpot (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls), pushing BW to an 11-10 lead going into the second quarter.
- The Yellow Jackets went on an 8-0 run with back-to-back three pointers by Wochele to earn the 19-14 advantage and force Marietta to a timeout with 6:10 to play in the half.
- After BW went up 28-22, the Pioneers ended the half with back-to-back buckets in the last 70 seconds of play and the Yellow Jackets held a 28-26 lead at halftime.
SECOND HALF
- The Pioneers went on an 8-0 run to start the half and take the lead.
- A scoop-and-score by Wochele and a three-pointer by Irwin put the Yellow Jackets within one with 6:13 left to play in the third.
- Marietta went on another run (6-0) to give the Pioneers a 40-33 advantage, forcing BW to its second timeout of the half.
- A pull up jumper by graduate All-OAC and Academic All-OAC guard Megan Hensel (Upper Sandusky) closed the third quarter, putting the Yellow Jackets within five (45-40).
- An old-fashioned three-point by Irwin with three minutes left to play put the Yellow Jackets within one possession (57-55).
- Down seven points, a step-back three by Irwin kept BW in close range.
- With the Pioneers up four points, BW forced the Marietta turnover with 34 seconds in the game. The Yellow Jackets had a chance to put BW within one possession again, but they came up short forcing a fouling situation.
- Each team ended the game on the charity stripe as the Pioneers went on to claim the 71-65 OAC Tournament Semifinal victory.
Irwin tallied 22 second-half points, shooting 11-19 on the day and added three steals. The Pioneers earned the advantage on the boards, outrebounding BW 45-30. The Yellow Jackets got to the free throw line 16 times, but to BW's demise, shot just 37.5% from the stripe.
BW concludes the regular season and the OAC tournament with an overall record of 22-5 and a record of 14-4 in the OAC.
The 2023 NCAA DIII women's basketball selection show will air on Monday, February 27 at 2:30 p.m. ET. You can watch it live on NCAA.com.
The national tournament will begin Friday, March 3. It will run all the way to the national championship on Saturday, April 1 in Dallas, Texas.
