Scot Women Hold Off Pesky Lake Erie Squad 83-70

Nara DeJesus finished with 26 points and 16 rebounds in just 23 minutes of action against Lake Erie.

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women’s basketball team put on a free throw shooting exhibition in its home opener tonight, canning 36-of-44 attempts (.818) in an 83-70 win over non-league foe Lake Erie College. Wooster set school records for both free throws made, bettering its mark of 31 at Denison University on Feb. 18, 1995, and attempted, two more than its previous high of 42 back in 1985.

The Scots, who are now off to their first 2-1 start since the 1998-99 campaign when it began 4-1, were led by two-time all-conference honoree Nara DeJesus (Geneva, Ohio / Geneva). Lake Erie had no one to match up against the 5-10 junior forward and she scored at will, finishing with 26 points, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe, and 16 rebounds, despite playing just 23 minutes due to foul trouble. DeJesus also made four steals and blocked a pair of shots.

Adding to the Storm’s woes was classmate Michaelyn Brunner (Bethl Park, Pa. / Bethel Park), who also got in a groove at the foul line. To go along with her squad-leading five assists, Brunner ended up with 16 points, highlighted by a 12-of-13 free throw performance.

Although no other Scots reached double figures in the scoring department, they received a variety of contributions from their deep bench with 14 players seeing court time. Noteworthy, junior Kristen Rice (Wooster, Ohio / Northwestern) had eight points and four boards in 12 minutes off the bench, freshman Molly Rallo (Aurora, Ohio / Beaumont School) played well in spurts and had seven points, as did sophomore Jen Flavin (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Seton-LaSalle).

For Lake Erie, which remains winless on the year at 0-3, freshman Carletta Harrell led the team in scoring for the third-straight time with 19 points. Melissa Ballentine chipped in 15 points before fouling out and Phylicia Chiappone contributed 13 tallies in the loss.