Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College women's basketball team closed out the regular season with a commanding 80-63 win over the College of Wooster on Saturday afternoon, giving the Yeowomen their first 20-win regular season in program history.
Prior to tip-off, the team honored seniors
Sammy Spanier,
Rowan Smith, and
Mia Woo with all three earning the start. Smith headlined the trio's efforts with a season-high 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Spanier secured a career-high nine rebounds to go along with six points, while Woo had a steal in the win.
Sophomore
Gina Lombard finished with a team-high 15 points as she cashed in three 3-pointers on the day while fellow backcourt mate
Alyson Jefferson posted 13 points to accompany her eight rebounds. First-year
Camille Zinaich chipped in nine points, four assists, four steals and five rebounds in just over 17 minutes of work.
Oberlin trailed 7-6 midway through the first quarter but finished the frame with an 11-3 spurt that featured six points from
Kendal McCall, giving the Yeowomen an 18-10 advantage after 10 minutes of action.
The Scots the trimmed margin down to four, 19-15, in the early portion of the second quarter but a 7-0 Yeowomen response that was capped off by old-school 3-point play from Jefferson gave Oberlin its first double-digit lead of the afternoon at 26-15 with 6:25 remaining in the half. The Scots would shrink the gap back down to six but the Yeowomen ultimately carried a 34-22 differential into the intermission.
Four consecutive points from Smith had the Yeowomen up 15 just over three minutes into the third and the Oberlin cushion would eventually swell to 21 on a fastbreak finish
Jaedyn O'Reilly. The Yeowomen would keep up the pressure and head into the final frame with a comfortable 57-35 advantage.
The lead would balloon to as many as 26 in the fourth quarter, allowing some reserves to get some playing time down the stretch. Junior
Jasmine Roberts posted a season-high five points in just over five minutes of action. Overall, the Yeowomen bench bunch outscored its Scots' counterparts 40-15.
The Yeowomen shot 46.2 (30-of-65) percent from the floor and went 16-of-20 at the charity stripe for an 80 percent success rate. The Scots deposited 23 of the 64 shots they attempted for a 35.9 percent clip. OC also outscored Wooster 46-24 in the paint and won the battle of the boards, 44-33.
Oberlin (20-3, 13-3 NCAC) will head into the NCAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed and will host No. 7 Kenyon on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
