Alma Denies Wooster Trip to Nan Nichols Championship

Carly Loehrke

WOOSTER, Ohio - For the first time since 1998, The College of Wooster women’s basketball team was prevented from making the finals of its own Nan Nichols Classic, falling to Alma College in the first round 73-59 on Saturday afternoon in Timken Gymnasium. Alma moves on to face Seton Hill University, a 77-74 winner over Notre Dame (Ohio) College, in the championship game at 3 p.m. on Sunday, while the Fighting Scots will face the Falcons in the consolation game at 1 p.m.

Wooster had made the championship game in seven of the previous nine Nan Nichols, missing only the 1997 and 1998 finals, and came out strong in the 10th installment of the event, jumping ahead 7-0 at 17:51 on a 3-pointer by Vicki Meyer (Geneseo, N.Y. / Geneseo).

Alma, sparked by back-to-back buckets by Darcie Philp, bounced back with an 8-0 run to take the lead for the first time at about the 15-minute mark, but the hosts came back to grab a one-point edge (15-14) at 10:40 on an old-fashioned three-point play by junior Carly Loehrke (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Mattawan), and went up by as many as eight (28-20) in the first period. Alma closed the gap, however, and seized the advantage in the final seconds as Jenny Falkenberg connected on a long-range shot to make it 33-32 in favor of the visitors.

Wooster retook the lead early in the second half (41-38), only to have Philp lead her team back, as she connected on back-to-back scores to again give Alma a one-point advantage (41-42). After two free throws by Sarah Merkel (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz Memorial) gave the advantage back to Wooster, Katey Peacock connected on a 3-pointer at 14:42 to give Alma a two-point edge (43-45).

The host Scots kept the deficit to single-digits for most of the game, closing it to two at 12:48 (46-48) and five (55-60) with under five minutes remaining in the contest, but Alma was nailing shots from all directions, led by Peacock who converted a jumper and 3-pointer down the final stretch and iced the game with four free throws in the final 30 seconds.

Peacock and Philp did a little of everything on the day, leading the way with 19 points and five assists apiece, as well as combining for 10 rebounds and five steals. Ashley Borcherding was also in double-figures with 13, including three 3-pointers, and Erica Philp paced the rebounding effort with seven, all on the defensive glass.

For Wooster, Loehrke was high scorer with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line and dished out a career-high seven assists out of the post. Meyer posted a career-high with 12 tallies, while Maria Gonzalez (Millersburg, Ohio / West Holmes) and Kassandra Dobson (Bellflower, Calif. / Millikan) chipped in with eight and seven, respectively. Loerhke, Gonzalez, and Meyer tied for the team lead with five caroms each.

In the day’s first contest, Seton Hill edged out Notre Dame in an up-and-down contest. Each team was dominant in the paint, scoring a combined 82 points in between the blocks, but the Griffins were able to convert 26 Falcon turnovers into 29 points and grab 26 offensive rebounds, which led to the win.

Seton Hill’s Denishia Salter led a balanced scoring effort with 23 points as well as picking up four steals, while playing all but one minute of the game. Elena Radenkovic was also in double-figures with 15 points on 50 percent shooting from the field (7-of-14) and tied for the team-lead with eight rebounds. Additionally, Autumn Himes came off the bench for 19 tallies, including 11 in the second stanza, and six rebounds.

Tamika Watkins posted a double-double for Notre Dame, tallying 17 points and a dozen boards, six of which were on the offensive glass, while Christine Hastings and Sarah Dia scored 17 and 16, respectively, and combined for 10 caroms.