Oberlin, Ohio – The seventh-seeded Kenyon College Ladies gave the second-seeded Oberlin College women's basketball team all they could handle but, in the end, it was the Yeowomen who earned a 61-59 victory in the opening round of the NCAC Tournament.
Kenyon's Katie Orefice, who entered as the conference's leading scorer, gave Kenyon a 59-57 lead with 1:16 left to play. Following a Kenyon turnover, Alyson Jefferson would then slash her way to the hoop where she finished at the rim while taking a bump from Grace Connery. The Oberlin sophomore would convert the 3-point play to put Oberlin in front by a single tally with 22 ticks still to expire.
First-year phenom Camille Zinaich would then come away with one of her biggest plays of the season, getting a steal of Orefice's entry pass. She was quickly fouled and would go to the line where she split the pair to give the Ladies life. After a few fouls on the floor by the Yeowomen to crunch the clock, Orefice would eventually fire off a 3-pointer from the near wing with under two seconds to play but her shot was well off the mark as a packed Philips Gym was able to exhale.
Reigning NCAC Player of the Week Bryana Woodard scored 16 of her 20 points in the first half as she led all scorers. Jefferson added 14 points to accompany her seven rebounds, while Gina Lombard chipped in 11 tallies. Zinaich was all over the floor, finishing with 15 rebounds, five assists, and seven points to go along with that clutch steal.
Oberlin opened up a 13-3 lead in the early going as Rowan Smith dropped in a floating jumper with 3:28 left in the first quarter but Kenyon slowly dwindled deficit as the Yeowomen settled for just a 15-10 advantage after 10 minutes of play.
The Yeowomen used a 10-3 spurt to create some breathing room, increasing its lead out to 25-13 on a Woodard layup midway through the second quarter. However, while it certainly felt like Oberlin was in control, the Ladies found a way to hang around with the Yeowomen carrying just a 31-24 cushion into the intermission.
Following the restart, it appeared as if Oberlin was going to run away with it, opening the period with a 10-0 burst that featured four points from Jefferson and four from Woodard to swell the margin out to 17 at 41-24. Unfortunately, the Yeowomen would go fairly cold over the final 6:51 of the session, allowing Kenyon to fight back and shrink the margin all the way down to six, 47-41, heading into the final frame.
Less than a minute into the fourth, the lead was down to two, but a triple-hit from senior Sammy Spanier and a traditional 3-point play by Jefferson pushed the gap back out to eight at 53-45 with 7:37 left to play.
A quick 8-0 Kenyon response that featured a pair of threes of Madelyn Anderson tied it 53-53 at the 6:17 mark and the two foes would essentially trade buckets the rest of the way. Kenyon claimed its first lead of the game, 57-55, on a Claudia Cooke layup with 1:59 left but a driving layup by Lombard got the count right back to even to setup the thrilling finish.
The Yeowomen's defense held Orefice to 2-of-14 shooting in the first half and just 6-of-22 for the game. However, she still matched Connery with a team-high 16 points.
Oberlin survived an 11-of-30 (36.6%) shooting performance in the second half, finishing the night 25-of-62 for a 40.3 percent success rate. The Ladies shot 7-of-28 (25%) in the first half but came to life over the final 20 minutes by going 14-of-27 (51.8%), which included an 8-of-12 (66.7%) showing in the fourth quarter.
The victory ran Oberlin's record to 21-3 on the year, matching a school record for wins in a season.
The Yeowomen will now head to DePauw for the NCAC Semifinals on Friday night where they will take on No. 3 Ohio Wesleyan at 7:30 p.m. for the right to go to the championship game.
