Quakers put together strong finish to stop Kenyon

WILMINGTON, Ohio — The Wilmington College Quakers used a strong finish to put away a pesky Kenyon College team, 53-43, in women’s basketball action at Hermann Court on Wednesday night.

Kenyon (1-2) owned the lead for most of the first half. Wilmington then took over late in the third quarter to build a six-point advantage. In the fourth, after Kenyon’s leading scorer Katie Orefice fouled out with 4:54 left in the game, the Quakers (4-0) opened up a nine-point lead to seal the win.

Throughout the defensive battle, only one player on the court reached a double-digit scoring total and that was Wilmington’s Kennedy Lewis, who racked up 17. Kenyon was led by Orefice, who battled foul trouble and scored nine in 15 minutes of work. 

Orefice got the team’s offense going early on, as she logged seven points in the first quarter. Her lone three-pointer of the game, followed by a two-point jumper, gave the Owls a 12-6 advantage about six minutes from the start. The Quakers crept as close as one point, but Kenyon’s defense came up with three blocks and four turnovers to maintain a 14-13 edge. 

In the second quarter, Wilmington scored five straight to take a 18-14 lead. That, however, would be all the Quakers would get. Over the last eight-and-a-half minutes of the quarter, Kenyon went on a 7-0 run to take a 21-18 advantage into the break. Alyssa Gest scored three Kenyon points during the run, while the Quakers went 0-for-12 from the floor and turned the ball over six times in that span.

With the teams going back-and-forth in the third quarter, it wasn’t until late in the period that Wilmington pulled away for good. The Quakers went on a 9-2 run, which included scoring the last five points of the period, to take a 36-30 lead into the final quarter.

Kenyon got its deficit down to four points at two times in the final frame, but when Orefice exited, the Quakers’ lead ballooned to nine. The final margin of ten points was the largest for either team throughout the game.

First-year center Anissa Hardy did her part for Kenyon, scoring six points and grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Claudia Cooke threw in seven points to go along with six boards, while Bela Krslovic, Alexis Newman and Grace Murphy all matched Hardy’s six points.

The Owls face a long two-week break ahead and will next play at Earlham College on Wednesday, November 30.