Rice Leads Scot Women Past Allegheny 76-60

Alexis Louttit scored 18 points to help Wooster down Allegheny.

WOOSTER, Ohio - The College of Wooster women's basketball team held off several second-half rallies by Allegheny College and then closed the North Coast Athletic Conference opener with a 16-4 run to win 76-60 Saturday afternoon at Timken Gymnasium.

Wooster, now 3-1 for the first time since 1998-99, owned a fragile 60-56 lead with just over five minutes to play, when the Scots took over by blocking a shot and forcing two turnovers on the defensive end and converted them into six points during back-to-back-to-back possessions.

That gave them a 10-point advantage (66-56) at the 3:13 mark, and Wooster added to that, as Allegheny (2-5, 0-1 NCAC) misfired on 10 of its final 12 shots.

After a hard-fought first half, in which there were nine ties and the lead was exchanged five times, the Scots turned a 36-32 halftime advantage into a nine-point edge (41-32) with an early second-half run.

However, the Gators returned the favor with several runs themselves. First, they cut it to one (43-42) and after the Scots scored three-straight, it went back-and-forth from a four-point game to a two-point game.

At 52-50 with just under nine minutes remaining, Wooster stretched its lead to six (58-52), but Allegheny got it back to four twice more before the Scots' decisive finish.

Offensively, the Scots production came from their post players, led by senior center Kristen Rice (Wooster, Ohio / Northwestern). She scored a career-high 24 points on seven field goals and 10-of-12 shooting from the foul line. She also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for her fourth career double-double.

Equally as effective were forwards Alexis Louttit (Lodi, Ohio / West Holmes), and Michelle Hall (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon). Louttit, a sophomore, hit 6-of-7 field goals and 6-of-6 free throws, matching her career-high of 18 points in just 20 minutes of action due to foul trouble, while Hall, a first-year, produced a 10-point, seven-rebound effort.

The Gators, missing two of their starters from last year with season-ending injuries, were paced by Meredith McDonough's 24 points on 11-of-18 shots from the floor. Caitlin Murtagh chipped in with 10 points, while Kristin Kramarik had game-highs in assists (5) and steals (4).

Wooster is off for finals week and will return to action next Saturday (Dec. 14) at home against winless Ursuline College (0-7), a non-league opponent. Tip-off at Timken Gymnasium is set for 2 p.m.