Case Western Reserve University sophomore forward Kara Hageman recorded her third 'double-double' of the season, and the Spartans' defense tallied a season-high 14 steals and scored 20 points off turnovers to lift the team to a 73-58 win over the College of Wooster in CWRU's home-opening contest on Wednesday night at the Horsburgh Gymnasium.

The Spartans never trailed in the game, en route to earning the team's second win of the season, improving to 2-5.  Wooster dropped to 4-2 with the loss.

Hageman led all players in Wednesday's game with 24 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, shooting eight-for-18 from the field.  Senior guard Jessica McCoy added a well-rounded performance with 15 points, five assists and career highs of eight rebounds, six blocks and four steals.  Freshman forward Hillary Hellmann rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 points, in addition to nine rebounds.

Hellmann got the Spartans off to a quick start in the first period, scoring seven points during the opening ten minutes.  CWRU twice took leads of seven points during the period, once on a layup by McCoy to make the score 13-6 with 3:35 to play, and again on a layup by freshman Alexis Amburgey with 24 seconds left to push the team's lead to 17-10.  Wooster hit a late bucket to cut the lead to 17-12 after the first period.

The Spartans lead climbed to eight as late as the 4:21 mark in the second quarter, but a 7-0 run by the Fighting Scots cut the lead to one, 29-28, with 3:08 left in the period.  CWRU rebuilt its lead to seven, 35-28, on a pair of free throws by Hageman with 1:46 to play, but would lead by just two heading into the half, 36-34, after another late run by Wooster.

Hellmann led all Spartans with nine first half points, while Hageman finished the first two quarters with seven points and eight rebounds.  McCoy added a career-high four blocks in the first half alone, to go along with six points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.

CWRU ran away with the contest in the third, shooting 50% (11-for-22) during the frame and ending the period on a 14-4 run to take a 61-47 lead with a Hageman layup as time expired.  The Spartans saw their lead reach as many as 19 points in the fourth period on a McCoy layup with 8:40 remaining in the game, as the team cruised to the home-opening victory.

The Spartans outrebounded the Fighting Scots 59-45 in the game, including a 27-16 edge in offensive rebounds, leading to a 21-11 advantage in second chance points for CWRU.  Case Western Reserve also outscored Wooster 46-22 in the paint on Wednesday.

Lauren Hancher led all Wooster players with 16 points, while Anna Gibbs contributed with 12 for the Scots.

The Spartans will be back on the road this weekend, traveling to Springfield, Ohio to take on Wittenberg University at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 5^th.