BEREA, OHIO -- Sophomore guard Olivia French (Bucyrus/ Colonel Crawford) had a perfect night as she scored a season-high 17 points on a perfect six-of-six from the field, three-of-three from three-point range and two-of-two from the foul line as the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team defeated Alma College of Michigan, 56-41, tonight (Friday, November 19, 2010) in the first round of the Hope College Tip-Off Classic in the DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Michigan. The Yellow Jackets will now face No. 2-ranked and host Hope tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in the championship game.
In addition to French, freshman forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) scored a career-high nine points and grabbed a team-high-tying five rebounds, and senior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard/ forward Amanda Schroeder (Columbus Grove) scored seven points to become the 12th player in Yellow Jacket history to score 1,000 points and now is tied with Kim Luthman (1997-2001) for 11th all-time with 1,002 points . Alma was led by senior forward Sydney Beckwith with a game-high 18 points and freshman guard Bailey Gooding added nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
In the first half, the Yellow Jackets opened the scoring when Schroeder scored the first two B-W baskets to take an early 4-2 lead at the 18:10 mark. The Scots took their first and only lead of the game at 5-4 when Gooding hit a three-pointer at the 17:22 mark. The Yellow Jackets regained the lead for good at 7-5 when French nailed her first three-pointer of the season with 16:40 remaining in the first stanza.
The B-W defense stifled the Alma offense for more than eight minutes from the 14:15 mark until 5:58 when freshman forward Sarah Stinson hit a jumper in the paint to end a 16-0 run by the Jackets, but by that time B-W had built a 27-9 advantage. Schroeder scored her 1,000th career point with a shot in the paint with 5:29 remaining to give B-W a 29-9 lead. The Yellow Jackets increased their lead to as many as 22 points, at 36-14, at the intermission.
In the second half, the Yellow Jackets maintained their strong play on defense, collapsing on the Scots offense. B-W extended its lead to as many as 28 points in the stanza, at 42-14, at the 16:36 mark. Alma would not get any closer than 15 points at 56-41 with 14 seconds remaining in the game.
Overall, the Yellow Jackets outrebounded Alma, 37-32.
Following its game with Hope, the Yellow Jackets return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 23 when they travel to University Circle to play Cleveland cross-town and non-league rival Case Western Reserve University in Horsburgh Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m.
Media and fans can listen LIVE to all Yellow Jacket men's and women's basketball games on campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM and via the Internet at www.wbwc.com.
In addition, 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 Third Annual "Take a Kid to the Game" Day doubleheader versus Ohio Northern University on February 19, 2011
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FOR MORE B-W 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 B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.