Women's Cagers Return from California Trip With a Split

Kym Wenz

The College of Wooster women’s basketball team opened up its trip to the west coast with a 62-57 victory over La Verne University on Tuesday afternoon and ended the California road-swing with a one-point loss (57-56) to Whittier College Thursday afternoon.

In Tuesday’s match-up, the Fighting Scots (4-4) took a three-point cushion (25-22) into the half before building an 11-point lead (35-24) early in the second, thanks to six-points from Carly Loehrke and four by Kym Wenz.

The host Leopards (5-2) hung with the Scots throughout the remainder of the half, eventually whittling the lead down to two points (55-53) with 1:16 left to play before a Wenz 3-pointer sealed the Wooster win.

Thursday’s contest was just as tightly contested, as there were nine ties and eight lead changes during a game that saw the Scots up by four with 3:52 remaining in action. However, host Whittier (5-3) closed the door on Wooster in the final minutes, regaining the lead and going up by three (57-54) until a Beth Besancon Sidle bucket trimmed it to the slimmest of margins (57-56) with 0:28 left. Besancon Sidle also got off a would-be game-winning 3-pointer, but it did not fall and the Poets held on for the victory. Noteworthy, neither team held more than a four-point lead throughout the entrire second half.

Leading the Scots during their California trip was Wenz, who scored 33 points, ripped down 13 rebounds, and added four steals, while Loehrke recorded 31 points, 13 boards, seven blocks, and six assists.

Also turning in a noteworthy performance was Maria Gonzalez, who tallied 10 points against La Verne.

The Scots will be idle until after Christmas, when they take to the road for another two-game swing, this time in Michigan. Wooster will tangle with Olivet College (4-4) on Friday, Dec. 29, at 3 p.m. and then square off against Kalamazoo College (2-8) in a 2 p.m. contest the following day.