The DePauw women's basketball team made a statement Tuesday night in their 76-38 win over visiting Oberlin College in the quarter-final round of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament.
"We know [the NCAC] has been talking a lot about us, so we wanted to go out and prove ourselves," junior Kathleen Molloy said.
Oberlin ended up on the wrong side of a route against the Tigers for the third time this season. In their previous two matches, the Tigers beat the Yeowomen 78-33 and 70-39.
But Oberlin came aggressive on Tuesday, as both teams vied for early control. End-to-end action supplied fans with a lot to look forward to as the teams traded leads five times early in the first half.
In what has been the theme for the women's team this season though, a late first-half DePauw run saw the women score 10 points straight. Sophomore Alex Gasaway and freshman Emma Ondik combined to hit back-to-back three-pointers during the run.
With about three minutes left to play in the first half, Oberlin closed the gap by scoring five straight until another DePauw run opened the lead more and the Lady Tigers led 31-19 at the half.
Excellent offense and disciplined defense allowed the Lady Tigers to open up the second half with 10 unanswered points, putting Oberlin on the wrong side of a 41-19 deficit. In fact, the Yeowomen were not able to score until the 11:30 mark of the second half.
Oberlin would come as close as 16 points down, but the final ten minutes saw DePauw outscore its opponent 35-13. In the end, DePauw closed out a comfortable win by a final of 76-38.
Oberlin now finishes the season 6-20.
Freshman Savannah Trees set a new career-high in points, scoring 14. Gasaway finished with 13 while sophomore Ali Ross chipped in 10. Molloy matched her career-high in assists with 4 while junior Ellie Pearson and senior Katie Aldrich both brought down 7 rebounds.
Although the team has been winning by impressive margins, Aldrich stresses that they are taking no breaks with their approach to each game.
"We've gone undefeated in conference, but the games aren't easy," Aldrich said. "Teams always come out to play us with their best game. We prepare for every team the same way as if they're the best team in the country, because that's how they play us."
The next challenge for the top-seeded Tigers occurs tonight at 8 p.m., in Neal Fieldhouse where they will battle Wittenberg University in one of two semi-final match-ups. Kenyon College and Denison University start the show at 6 p.m. The winner of each game will face the other winner Saturday at Neal Fieldhouse for the NCAC conference tournament crown.