Scots to Face Thomas More in Nan Nichols Tourney Final

Nara DeJesus

WOOSTER, Ohio - The College of Wooster women's basketball team was pushed to overtime by a pesky Notre Dame (Ohio) College squad, but survived 88-83 to advance to the championship game of the Nan Nichols Tournament for the third-straight year.

In doing so, Wooster improves to 4-2, and if the Scots can defeat Thomas More College in the title match-up on Saturday (Dec. 8), they will have their best start to a season since 1991-92.

Thomas More (5-3) defeated Westminster (Pa.) College in the tourney's opening game 65-57.

In the Wooster game, Notre Dame (1-9) held the lead for almost the entire first 30 minutes of play, boosting it to as high as 11 on two occasions. But the tide started to change midway through the second, when the Scots turned a 54-47 deficit at the 12:28 mark into a 65-59 advantage with 7:01 left in regulation.

The Falcons would not go away, though, as they charged back with an 11-2 rally to hold a three-point edge (70-67) with 2:47 to play. Wooster tied it up on its next possession with a three-pointer from freshman guard Molly Rallo (Aurora, Ohio / Beaumont School), who finished with a season-high 17 points and five steals.

The Scots scored three more over the next 45 seconds, however, Notre Dame was up to the challenge and made a pair of free throws with 44 ticks remaining to cut it to 73-72. A Wooster turnover and foul with :27 left gave the Falcons a chance to take the lead, but Heidi Urban made only one of her two free throws. Then, both teams had possessions, but neither got a shot off and they went into overtime at 73-73.

Notre Dame got on the board first in the extra session with a couple of free throws, but Rallo answered with a three-pointer and the Scots never trailed the rest of the way, as they hit all four of their attempts from the charity stripe to seal the victory.

Wooster junior forward Nara DeJesus (Geneva, Ohio / Geneva) put forth another outstanding effort, scoring 27 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the floor, and grabbing 18 rebounds in 42 minutes of action. Besides DeJesus and Rallo, no other Scots hit double figures in scoring, however, they received a balanced effort, as four others tossed in seven or more points.

For the Falcons, three reached double-digits led by senior Mandy Felice, who nearly registered a rare triple-double. She finished with 28 points on 12-of-23 field goal attempts, 11 of her team's 20 steals, and nine boards, while playing all but one minute of the game.

Also playing 44 minutes and picking up a point-assist double-double was freshman Maggie Daniels, who contributed 10 points and 10 successful dishes.

Urban was the third with 14 points, to go along with her nine rebounds.

The final numbers were as close as the game. Wooster hit 47.8 percent (33-of-69) from the field, including five three-pointers, while Notre Dame connected on 47.9 percent (34-of-71) of its field goals. The difference was at the free throw line, where the Scots continued to shoot well, making 17-of-24 to mark the fourth game in a row they hit 70.0 percent or more, while the Falcons were 10-of-20.

In the opener, the Saints overcame an early 13-4 deficit and actually outscored Westminster (2-5) 28-12 the rest of the first half to take a seven-point lead into the break. The Titans never regained the lead, in spite of several second-half runs, including cutting the lead down to two (57-55) as late as the 1:59 mark.

Individually, senior Bridget New led three Thomas More players in double figures with 18 points, while classmate Bethany Vice cleaned up the glass with 10 boards. Westminster was led by its star senior, Robin Thayer, who scored 12 points and dished out four assists in the losing effort.