Wooster Hosting Allegheny Wednesday Prior to Special Game at Witt

Meredith Wilson

Winners of its last two North Coast Athletic Conference games and fifth in the league standings, The College of Wooster now hopes to position itself for a move into the top-four this week. First, the Fighting Scots will attempt to keep their winning ways going on Wednesday, Jan. 30, when Allegheny College (5-12, 2-6 NCAC) visits Timken Gymnasium for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Allegheny enters the week in a tie for sixth-place. Last year, the two teams split the regular season series, with the Scots prevailing 77-71 in overtime at Meadville, Pa., and the Gators posting a 64-55 win in Wooster. Then, a rubber match was played as they met in the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals, and Allegheny held serve on its own court this time with a 59-42 triumph to take a 37-16 lead in the all-time series. On Saturday afternoon, Feb. 2, Wooster will be part of a special day at rival Wittenberg University (7-8, 6-2 NCAC), as the school will be dedicating the Pam Evans Smith Arena, in honor of its late coach who lost her lengthy battle with cancer this past June. The ceremony will be prior to the 2 p.m. tip-off. The Tigers are currently in a three-way tie for second-place in the NCAC, and may be looking for revenge as the Scots won their regular-season finale 70-56 last year. That marked the end of Wittenberg’s 21-game winning streak in the all-time series (41-9), which included a 71-63 decision over Wooster early during the 2006-07 season.

Last Week: The Scots split two games, winning the more important of the two (a conference game) to improve to 6-10 overall and 3-4 in the NCAC.

On Jan. 23, Wooster got off to a slow start at Bluffton University, not scoring for the first 8:30, and never recovered en route to a 60-42 setback during a rare non-league match-up this late in the season. The host Beavers led 31-11 at the halftime break and the lowest the margin got to throughout the second half was 14 (34-20, 37-23). Individually, Kaitlin Krister (Kent, Ohio / Walsh Jesuit) led the Scots, despite only playing four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. She bounced back to record a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.

On Jan. 26, Meredith Wilson (Washington Ct. House, Ohio / Miami Trace) scored the final five points of regulation, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to send the game into overtime (47-47), and then accounted for the game-winner, hitting another 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining in the extra session, to give Wooster a thrilling 57-54 victory over visiting NCAC foe Earlham College. The Scots had trailed the entire game, including 23-12 at halftime and by as much as 13 early in the second (27-14, 29-16), before Wilson’s heroics at the end of regulation. Also noteworthy, Earlham went 0-for-3 from the free throw line during the final 30 seconds to help Wooster’s cause. In overtime, Wilson began the scoring by burying another 3-pointer (50-47), but the Quakers came back to take the lead 51-50, and later, tied the game 54-54, answering a 3-pointer by Priscilla Staples (Stoughton, Mass. / Fontbonne Academy) with one of their own with a little more than :30 to play. As the clock wound down, Wilson got free via a screen from Hannah Kerkian-Winton (Wadsworth, Ohio / Highland) and nailed her fourth 3-pointer for the win. Overall, Wilson ended up with a team-high 19 points, all coming after halftime, and Krister added 17.

NCAC Player of the Week: For her efforts (see above), junior guard Meredith Wilson (Washington Ct. House, Ohio / Miami Trace) was tabbed the North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week. In addition to her heroics against Earlham, Wilson totaled 30 points, including 5-of-12 3-point shooting, and 10 rebounds.