Earlham Overcomes Early Deficit to Beat Wooster By 13

Michaelyn Brunner

RICHMOND, Ind. - In its last outing, The College of Wooster women's basketball team attempted 44 free throws and turned that into an 83-70 win. But in a reversal of fortunes on Saturday, Wooster sent host Earlham College to the charity stripe 46 times and Earlham went on to win by a similar score - 85-72.

In the North Coast Athletic Conference opener for the Scots, they jumped out to the early lead. In fact, Wooster (2-2, 0-1 NCAC) had the advantage for most of the first half and led 26-24 with 5:19 remaining. However at that point, the Quakers (2-3, 1-1 NCAC) went on a 10-2 run and never trailed the rest of the way.

Earlham converted a 38-36 halftime lead into a 15-point advantage (57-42) with an early charge in the second half. The Quakers maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, building it as high as 70-51 before settling for the 13-point victory.

For the Scots, junior forward Nara DeJesus (Geneva, Ohio / Geneva) continued her stellar play with a team-best 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. She is now averaging 18.0 points and 14.8 boards.

Also in double-digits in the scoring column again was junior wing Michaelyn Brunner (Bethl Park, Pa. / Bethel Park). She finished with 15 points and three steals on the afternoon.

Noteworthy, two freshmen got their first career starts at Wooster - forward Alexis Louttit (Shreve, Ohio / West Holmes) and guard Molly Rallo (Aurora, Ohio / Beaumont School). Rallo scored nine points and dished off a couple of assists in 31 minutes, while Louttit contributed four points and three boards.

Earlham was paced sophomore forward Lindsey Chappell, last year's NCAC Newcomer of the Year. She poured in a game-high 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 10-of-15 free throws, while also gathering a squad-best nine rebounds and recording five steals.

Four other Quakers also scored in double figures - Michelle Behler with 14 points, Melissa Liffick with a dozen tallies, and Summer Cress and Rae-Rae Washington with 10 points apiece.

The Scots will now try and rebound on Wednesday night (Dec. 5), when the play at Hiram College (1-3, 0-1 NCAC) with tip-off slated for 7:30 p.m.