 |
| Carly Loehrke |
WOOSTER, Ohio — The College of Wooster women’s
basketball team raced out to a 19-4 lead less than eight minutes into its
season opener, and went on to cruise to a 66-49 victory over Thiel College
during a first-round game of the 8th annual Nan Nichols Classic at Timken
Gymnasium.
Wooster (1-0) will take on Westminster (Pa.)
College tomorrow in the championship game, as Saturday’s early contest
saw Westminster use a similar big run early on and then hold off a late
charge to beat Manchester College 64-56.
The Scots’ early burst was courtesy
of Carly Loehrke (Kalamzoo, Mich. / Mattawan), who made five of
her first six field-goal attempts of her collegiate debut as well as two
free throws to help give Wooster the aforementioned 15-point lead. Loehrke
finished with a game-high 14 points in 22 minutes.
Thiel (0-1) managed to cut it down to single-digits
on two possessions late in the first half, but 27-18 would be as close
as the Tomcats would get the rest of the way. The Scots finished on a 10-5
run, taking a comfortable 14-point margin into the locker room.
Wooster, which upped its lead to 20 points
(45-25) early in the second before freely subbing the rest of the way,
used a balanced attack, as 11 Scots got into the scorebook. Second to Loehrke
in scoring was sophomore Natalie Barone’s (Akron, Ohio / St.
Thomas Aquinas) nine points. Also noteworthy, from her shooting guard position,
Barone pulled down a squad-high nine boards and added four assists to share
the team lead in that category with junior Molly Rallo (Aurora,
Ohio / Beaumont School).
Thiel had two players finish with 10 points apiece — Tatiana
Lamon and Kerry Gutherie — while Fontealla Jones controlled
a game-high 11 rebounds.
The tandem of Alyson Gasper and Erica Tallo led the
Lady Titans past a pesky Manchester squad in the opener. They both finished
with double-doubles, as Tallo scored a game-high 19 points on 8-of-18 field-goal
shooting and added another game-high of 11 rebounds, and Gasper finished
with a stat line of 11 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals
from her point guard spot.
The duo helped Westminster bolt out to a 24-6 lead 11 minutes into
the action. The Lady Titans led by 17 at the break (39-22) before the Spartans
started their comeback. Midway through the second, they cut another 17-point
margin (52-35) down to 53-45, thanks to an eight-point spurt from Erin
Ward. Manchester got it as low as four (57-53) once at the 3:31 mark,
but could dent the lead any further.
Ward came off of the bench to pace the Spartans with 16 points, including
4-of-9 three-pointers, while Mandy Freed also went 4-for-9 from
the arc and scored 14 points.
Manchester and Thiel will meet in the consolation
tomorrow at 1 p.m., and 30 minute after the conclusion of that one, Wooster
will host Westminster. |
Email
Story