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No. 10 Women’s Basketball Outlasts Wilmington to Earn OAC Home Win

Bella Vaillant (photo courtesy of Jackie Kasai '23)
Bella Vaillant (photo courtesy of Jackie Kasai '23)

BEREA, Ohio - The No. 10 nationally ranked Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team took on Wilmington College in Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center in the second game of a men's and women's Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader. The Yellow Jackets extended their unbeaten streak, earning a 67-58 win over the Quakers.

BW (7-0, 2-0 OAC) was led by sophomore guard Emily Irwin (Pickerington/Pataskala Watkins Memorial) as she totaled a game-high 18 points and added two assists, shooting 4-7 from the field and 9-12 from the charity stripe. Sophomore forward Bella Vaillant (Perrysburg) tallied 13 points, all in the second half, while senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC guard Megan Hensel (Upper Sandusky) also notched double-digit points, finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Wilmington (5-2, 0-1 OAC) was led by junior forward Brooke Stover's 14 points and four rebounds.

FIRST HALF

  • Wilmington notched the first points of the game and kept the lead until junior forward Kira Philpot (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) hit a three to put the Yellow Jackets up 9-7.
  • BW kept the momentum, closing the first quarter with a 16-11 advantage.
  • A three-pointer by Hensel and a layup by Philpot put the Yellow Jackets up eight points to force a Wilmington timeout with 3:38 left in the half.
  • The Quakers fought back to bring the game within one point with 1:21 left in the second but an old-fashioned three-point play by Hensel put the Yellow Jackets up 27-23 after 20 minutes of play. 

SECOND HALF

  • The Yellow Jackets went up eight points again before the Quakers went on an 8-0 run (six points by Wilmington's Kennedy Lewis) to tie the game 31-31 with 6:16 left in the third quarter, forcing a BW timeout.
  • BW earned a 50-40 advantage with two made free throws by Irwin before the Quakers responded with a third quarter ending layup.
  • After the Quakers stayed within eight points, a three-point play by sophomore forward Vaillant and a layup by Irwin put the Yellow Jackets up by 13 with 4:54 to go in the contest, causing WC to take a timeout.
  • The Quakers got within six points with 32 seconds left of play, but the Yellow Jackets held off WC to claim the 66-58 OAC win.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, December 10 as they travel to Marietta to take on the Marietta College Pioneers in the second game of a men's and women's doubleheader. Tip-off of the women's game is set for 4:00 p.m. inside the Ban Johnson Arena.