Granville, Ohio - First-year phenom
Camille Zinaich stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists and four steals to lift the Oberlin College women's basketball team to a 64-50 road win at Denison University on Saturday afternoon.
Zinaich pressured the Big Red defense throughout the 40-minute affair, earning 14 free throws and cashing in career-high 12 freebies. It was her seventh double-double performance of the year, 12th time with double-digit rebounds, and ninth game with five or more assists.
Fellow rookie Bryana Woodard dropped in 14 points, marking her ninth consecutive game in double figures as the Yeowomen outscored the Big Red 40-14 in the paint.
After a lackluster first quarter that ended with Oberlin up 12-10, the Yeowomen picked up the intensity on both ends of the floor in the second session. In the first four minutes of the frame, the Yeowomen ripped off a 10-3 run that was sparked by the defense as Denison turned it over three times while the Oberlin lead swelled to 22-13 during that stretch.
The margin was down to five, 24-19, with just over a minute left in the first half but the Yeowomen would finish strong, scoring seven points while forcing three Big Red turnovers over the final 67 seconds to carry a 31-19 cushion into the halftime intermission.
With 5:49 left in the third quarter, a triple-hit from Jaedyn O'Reilly and an ensuing layup from Kendal McCall gave Oberin advantage at 15-point advantage at 41-26 and the Yeowomen would ultimately carry a comfortable 51-37 lead into the final frame.
However, it wasn't an easy 10-minute stretch for Oberlin as the Big Red methodically trimmed the deficit down to put some pressure back on the visitors. A Gina Lombard layup had Oberlin up 53-37 with just under eight minutes to play but an 11-2 Big Red response that was capped off by a left-handed hookshot from Isa Contreas had the margin trimmed down to seven with 2:51 left to expire. Thankfully, a clutch floating jumper from Alyson Jefferson on the next possession allowed Oberlin to exhale a bit as the Yeowomen would go on to cash in seven free throws over the final 74 seconds to finish off the victory.
Oberlin shot 34.9 percent (22-of-63), despite going just 1-of-15 from beyond the arc. However, they made up for it at the charity stripe, depositing 19 of the 23 free throws they hoisted for an 82.6 percent success rate. The Yeowomen defense forced 17 Big Red turnovers while limiting them to just 28.1 (16-of-57) percent shooting.
The Yeowomen are now 16-2 overall and 9-2 in the NCAC. Denison fell back to 7-11 and 5-6 in league play.
Oberlin will conclude its three-game road swing on Wednesday night at Kenyon College. Tip-time is set for 6 p.m.
