The women’s basketball team extended their incredible season by lighting up the scoreboard against the College of Wooster in the quarterfinals of the NCAC tournament by a score of 90-56.
The team started the game with a 12-3 run after first-year Sydney Kopp made a layup. Wooster was able to cut the lead to 15-10 after Aki Shurelds knocked in a three-pointer, but the Tigers closed out the half on a 13-3 run sparked by sophomore Maya Howard and junior Emily Budde. The women led 28-13 at the half.
With the Fighting Scots still in striking distance at the start of the third quarter, DePauw did not take their foot off the gas. Leading by nine points by Howard and five different Tigers scoring, the team extended their lead to twenty-four points.
“This was the type of game where we knew we were the better team,” said sophomore Blaire Carlin. “That’s why it was important for us to put the nail in the coffin right out of the gate in the second half.”
DePauw maintained control in the fourth quarter when they started the period with a 12-0 run, extending their already large lead to 36 points. They continued to coast the rest of the game until the final buzzer went off.
Ninety points was a season-high for the team as they shot 50.3 percent from the field. Their defense stayed on par with their offensive performance as they held Wooster to 32.3 percent from the field. The biggest area of disappointment in this performance was giving up 11 turnovers. Senior Lex Gaumer led the team with 17 points off the bench, while Howard and senior Claire Ryan each put up 14 points.
“One of our biggest goals of the year is to win conference,” junior Kylie Morris said. “We can’t look past any opponent so we did a good job of taking care of business.”
The Tigers, previously, closed out the regular season with a 60-41 victory over Oberlin College.
Oberlin held two leads during the first quarter, but the women ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 10-6 lead entering the second period. Oberlin made several pushes in the second quarter, but could not take the lead and eventually allowed a 12-2 DePauw run to close the half to give the team a 24-15 lead.
The women came out firing in the third quarter, shooting 8-12 from the field and did not allow the Yeowomen to cut the lead into the single digits for the entire second half. The Tigers held a 45-29 lead entering the final period.
Junior Emily Budde knew the team needed to end the regular season with a win to have some momentum for the postseason. “It was a great way to close out the regular season,” Budde said. “We are trending in the right direction heading into the conference tournament.”
Howard led the team in scoring with 18 points and Budde added 12 points off of 6-8 shooting. The team shot adequately from the field where they made 42.3 percent of their shots, but where the team really shined was with their defense as they forced the Yeowomen to only make 30 percent of their shots.
The team plays Oberlin College on Friday in the semifinals of the NCAC Championships.
