Oberlin, OH – The Yeowomen basketball team opened their season on Tuesday evening, playing host to the Alma Scots in Philips Gymnasium. Coming back from a halftime deficit, rookies Gina Lombard and Bry Woodard led the Yeowomen resurgence to defeat the Scots 72-65 to start the season at 1-0.

Earning the first basket of the year, Woodard got the Yeowomen off to a quick start in the opening quarter. Sinking a long shot outside the three-point line, sophomore Lombard put Oberlin ahead 5-0. Alma crawled their way back into the game, finally taking a 9-8 advantage at with 4:05 left in the first quarter. Alma continued to advance their lead, banking a pair of layups in the ensuing possession. The Scots' defense locked down, holding the Yeowomen scoreless in the final minute to clench a 15-12 lead headed into the second quarter.
 
The Scots continued their momentum into the second quarter, draining a 3-pointer early on. Oberlin's Kendal McCall and Lombard responded with triples of their own to bring the Yeowomen within one. Alma went on a five-point run over the next couple minutes before Alira Allen brought the run to an end with a layup at the 2:56 mark. The Yeowomen offense continued to struggle at the rim as time expired and found themselves down 33-27 at the half.
 
Needing to regain control of the game, the Oberlin squad stormed the court in the opening minutes of the second half as Lombard accounted for four points to bring the score to 33-31. The Yeowomen continued to battle their way back into the game with Woodard notching back-to-back layups. The hard work paid off as Jaedyn O'Reilly pulled up to the elbow and sank the go-ahead shot, putting Oberlin ahead 43-42. Rolling off the Crimson and Gold momentum, Lombard drained her fourth long-range shot of the night to bring the score to 48-44. Alma scored just once more over the final minutes of the period for a 48-46 game heading into the final quarter.
 
The Scots regained the lead in the first minute of action but a turn around jumper from senior Sammy Spanier tied the game at 50 with 6:51 to play. Having impressive Oberlin debuts Lombard, Camille Zinaich, and McCall accounted for seven-straight points to give their team a seven-point advantage. With 2:24 remaining, a Scots 3-pointer brought the game within one before the Oberlin coaching staff took a timeout to formulate a game plan.
 
Coming out of the timeout, Lombard hit nothing-but-net on a jump shot followed by an and-one from Woodard. Hitting the foul shot, the Yeowomen took a 66-60 lead as game went into the final minute. Over the final minute of action, Oberlin dominated the court as Spanier and Lombard combined for another five points and handled the Scots to secure the victory.
 
The young Yeowomen dominated in their career debuts as Lombard led the scoring effort with 29 points and a trio of assists to supplement. First-year Woodard recorded a double-double in her first game with 12 rebounds and 14 points while also leading the team in steals with five clean swipes. Zinaich also aided in the defensive effort of Oberlin as she pulled down eleven rebounds and combined with McCall for 16 points.

Oberlin returns to the court this weekend on Saturday, November 13 when they travel to cross state to take on Bluffton. Tip off is set for 7pm with the live stream available here and live stats available here (XML).
 
Fans can watch all the home matches live online. Home contests can be accessed on a TV through the official Oberlin College Sports Network app on Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.