ADA, OHIO -- Junior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/ St. Mary's Central Catholic) scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference rival Ohio Northern University, 56-54, today (Saturday, January 15, 2011) in the ONU Sports Center. The victory moved BW into first place in the OAC.
With its win, BW is now 11-3 overall and 6-1 in the OAC. In addition to Spisak, senior two-time All-OAC guard/ forward Amanda Schroeder (Columbus Grove) had 12 points. For ONU, now 12-4 overall and 7-2 in the OAC, freshman forward Cenzie Yoder led the way with 12 points.
With her 12 points, Schroeder moved in fourth place on the all-time Yellow Jacket scoring list with 1,212 career points as she surpassed Kim Stuart-Kaminski (1987-90), who had 1,210 career points.
In the first half, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the 18:57 mark when Spisak scored on a short jump shot. Following an ONU basket, Schroeder made a pair of foul shots at and a layup at 16:52 before picking up two quick fouls and was sidelined for the rest of the half.
Despite Schroeder's absence, BW built its lead to six points at 8-2 at the 15:26 mark when freshman forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) made a pair of foul shots. The Jackets continued to increase its advantage to 10 points at 14-4 at the 10:09 mark when Rohrbach made layup and was fouled, but missed the free throw.
ONU went on a 6-2 run to cut BW's lead to 16-10 at the 7:14 mark when senior forward Jeanne Bockey made a layup, was fouled, but missed her free throw. The Yellow Jackets then outscored ONU 9-6 to rebuild its lead to nine points at 25-16 at the 2:33 mark when Spisak made a pair of foul shots. BW's lead remained nine points at halftime at 27-18.
In the second half, BW outscored ONU 7-6 to open the stanza and rebuild its lead to a game-high 10 points at 34-24 when freshman guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) banked in a three-pointer at the 16:53 mark. The lead grew to 12 points at 38-26 at the 12:50 mark when senior guard Ali Stack (Vermilion/ Firelands) made a layup. The Polar Bears then went on an 8-3 run to close to 41-34 withb 12:40 left when junior center Steph Hicks made a layup.
Undaunted, BW went on a 4-0 run to build its lead back to 11 points at 45-34 with 10:47 when Spisak canned a jumper. After ONU outscored BW 6-2 to cut the lead to 45-38, Rohrbach made it an eight-point game at 48-40 with 4:27 left when she made one of two foul shots. Then, with 3:39 left, Bockey canned a layup to move ONU within six points at 48-42 and the closest it had been since the first half.
ONU continued its comeback when sophomore guard Morgan Dumbaugh made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 48-45 with 3:20 left in the contest. At that point, Schroeder scored at 2:49 to make the score 50-45 and move into fourth place all-time. BW continued to rebuild its lead to 52-45 when sophomore point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) made both ends of a one-and-one situation with 2:25 left.
ONU cut the lead back to five points at 52-47 when sophomore forward Joanna Snyder made a layup at 2:14 and back to three points at 52-49 when Yoder scored with 54 seconds left. Following a missed foul shot by BW, ONU had two chances to score again but missed and after grabbing a rebound, sophomore guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) made a pair of foul shots with 31 seconds left to make the score 54-49.
A Yoder basket with 27 seconds then cut the lead back to 54-51. Then following two missed foul shots by BW with 23 seconds, ONU committed a turnover and Schroeder made one of two foul shots with seven seconds left to make the score 55-51. ONU again scored to cut the lead to 55-53 on a basket by Yoder with six seconds left. With five seconds remaining, Stack again made it a three-point game at 56-53 by making one of two foul shots.
With 2.4 seconds left, Dumbaugh was fouled and went t the line for a one-and-one. She made the first to make the score 56-54. Following a missed second shot and the ball going out of bounds, BW was awarded the ball. Then BW inbounded the ball long and closed out the contest.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 19 when BW hosts Muskingum University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 7:30 p.m. In addition, fans can listen to all of the action on either campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, or via the WBW Internet web site at www.wBW.com.
Two Yellow Jacket women's and men's basketball doubleheaders will be telecast on SportsTime Ohio this winter. The games are the January 29, 2011 twinbill versus Wilmington College and the February 19 doubleheader versus Ohio Northern University. In addition, the Jan. 29 women's game versus Wilmington is the Third Annual "Take a Kid to the Game" Day with the tipoff scheduled for 2:00 p.m. For more details, please visit the "Take a Kid to the Game" web site at www.bw.edu/athletics/takg11.
FOR MORE SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
