Granville, OH – Playing for the second time in three days, the Oberlin College women's basketball team could not find enough energy to slow down the visiting Big Red of Denison University as they cruised to a 73-50 victory over the Yeowomen on Monday night at Philips Gym.
The busy schedule coupled with a slow start resulted in Oberlin's underclassmen seeing substantial minutes on the night. Sophomore
Leo Ross was the lone Yeowomen to post double figures as she netted 12 points. First-year
Sammy Spanier matched
Olivia Canning with a career-high eight points while junior
Mackenzie Michaels posted a career-best nine rebounds to go along with six points.
Oberlin trailed just 12-10 seven minutes into the game but went cold well into the second quarter as the Big Red built up a 22-10 advantage deep into the second quarter. A pair of
Jasmine Sorrells free throws with 6:12 left in the opening half snapped a near seven-minute scoreless streak for the Yeowomen.
With the sluggish start, Oberlin turned to its bench for a spark and they stayed within striking distance as the Yeowomen got within nine on multiple occasions before entering the locker room down 33-22 at the half.
Oberlin shrunk the deficit down to seven, 33-26, early in the third quarter but halfway through the period the Big Red ballooned the lead back out to 17. It appeared the Yeowomen were about to start their comeback bid as back-to-back layups from Canning had the margin down to 12 but Denison had other ideas by closing the quarter with a 7-0 spurt to carry a 55-36 lead into the final frame.
The ultimate outcome was never in doubt in the final quarter as the Big Red widen its advantage out to as many as 26 points and never looked back.
For the second straight game Oberlin struggled from the floor, hitting on just 16-of-51 shots for a 31.4 percent clip. The Big Red, who got a game-high 27 points from Alison Schafer and 22 points from Lauren Longbrake, checked in at 48.2 percent (26-of-57). The Big Red won the rebounding war 40-32 and outscored the Yeowomen 22-12 in the paint.
The loss dropped the Yeowomen back to 5-4 overall and 1-2 in the NCAC. Denison improved to 4-5 and evened up its conference mark at 2-2.
Oberlin is idle from competition until December 29 when it takes on Rochester University at the Otterbein University Smokey Ballenger Classic. Tip-time is set for 1 p.m.
