WESTERVILLE, OHIO –  Junior guard Kristi Kotterman scored a game-high 20 points and led five players in double figures as the Otterbein University women's basketball team defeated first place Baldwin-Wallace College, 74-67, tonight (Thursday, February 3, 2011) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rike Center in Westerville.
 
With its win, Otterbein is now 9-11 overall and 5-8 in the OAC and has won three straight games.  In addition to Kotterman for the sophomore forward Hannah Day had 14 points, junior guard Shae McCoy and sophomore forward Rachel Snedegar had 11 each and senior forward Sarah Esterkamp had 10.

For B-W, now 15-5 overall and 10-3, in the OAC, the Yellow Jackets drop into a tie for first place in the OAC with their second straight loss. Despite the defeat, sophomore guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) led the way with 15 points and was joined in double figures by senior 2-time All-OAC guard Amanda Schroeder (Columbus Grove) with 14 and freshman forward Jessica Lairson (Louisville) had 13.

With her 14 points tonight, Schroeder now has 1,282 career points and needs 28 more to surpass former Academic All-American Jen Swinehart (1995-99), who had 1,309 points during her career.

In the first half, the Yellow Jackets opened the scoring at the 19:36 mark when Lairson made a three-pointer. The Cardinals outscored B-W 7-4 to tie the score at 7-7 when Snedegar made one of two foul shots at the 15:13 mark. The Cardinals grabbed their first lead at 9-7 when Snedegar made a layup at the 13:43 mark.

B-W quicly regained the lead at 10-9 when Carpenter made a trey at the 13:00 mark. Again, Otterbein came back to tie the game at 10-10 at 12:51 when jMcCoy made one of two foul shots. The Cards regained the lead at 12-10 at the 12:04 mark when McCoy canned a jumper.  Otterbein continued to build its lead at 19-13 at the 7:00 mark when McCoy canned another jump shot.

Following a timeout, B-W had a 5-0 run to close to 19-18 at the 6:01 mark when sophomore guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) made a layup. The Jackets then tied the score at 21-21 with 4:43 left when Carpented canned a triple, but Otterbein answered right back when Kotterman made her own triple at the 4:23 mark for a 24-21 advantage. The Cards then built their lead to six points at 32-26 with 1:11 left when Snedegar made a layup. Undaunted, B-W went on a 5-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Carpenter with 29 seconds left, to close to 32-31 at the intermission.

In the second half, The Yellow Jackets regained the lead at 33-32 when Lairson made a jump shot at 19:18. After Otterbein's Day gave the Cardinals a 34-33 lead, Schroeder gave the lead back to B-W when she made a layup at 17:08, was fouled and made the free throw for a 36-34 advantage. But Otterbein again took the lead at 37-36 when Kotterman answered with a triple at 16:21. The lead grew to four points at 40-36 when McCoy made a layup, was fouled and completed the three-point play with 15:45 left. McCoy then made another foul shot (one of two) at 15:30 following a techical foul on the B-W bench to make it 41-36.

Following a 45-40 Cardinal lead, B-W scored four straight points to close to 45-44 before Otterbein's Day made a layup at 10:10 to give it a 47-44 lead. The lead grew back to five points at 49-44 at 9:32 when Esterkamp made a jump shot in the paint.  After Otterbein led 51-46, B-W scored four straight points to close to 51-50 before Otterbein sophomore guard Tiffany Rader made two foul shots at 7:29 to make it 53-50. Then Kotterman canned a triple at 6:08 to match Otterbein's largest lead at six points at 56-52.

After a Lairson jumper at 5:59 made it 56-52, Kotterman answered back with one of her own at 5:36 to again make it a six-pont game at 58-52. B-W again battled back to close to 58-55 when sophomore guard Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./ Corry Area) made a trey at 5:17. Esterkamp pushed it back to a five-point game at 60-55 by making two foul shots at 5:02.

After a Schroeder foul shot cut the lead to 60-56, Otterbeinfreshman guard Maggie Allard made a jumper at 4:13 to make it six again at 62-56.  B-W again came back with a 5-0 run on two foul shots by freshman forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) at 3:49 and a three-point play by Schroeder at 3:08 to make the score 62-61. McCoy pushed the lead to 64-61 with two foul shots at 3:03 and Schroeder answered back with two of her own at 2:49 it make it a 64-63 game.

Following a steal and a missed layup by Rossman at 1:57, Lairson grabbed the offensive rebound and gave the lead back to B-W at 65-64 with a putback at 1:52.  Esterkamp gave Otterbein the lead back at 66-65 with two foul shots at 1:00. B-W then gained the lead at 67-66 with 48 seconds left when Rossman scored on a layup. Otterbein gained the lead back at 68-67 ten seconds later on a Day jumper. Following a B-W turnover, Allard gave the Cards a three-point lead at 7067 with two foul shots at 26 seconds, and after a missed three-pointer by B-W, she "iced" the game with two more foul shots at with 10 seconds left. Kotterman added two more charity tosses with two seconds left to close the scoring.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, February 5 when they travel to New Concord, Ohio to play OAC-rival Muskingum University in the John Glenn Gymnasium at 2:00 p.m. in the first game of a women's and men's doubleheader. The B-W and Muskingum men play at 4:00 p.m.  In addition, fans can listen to all of the action on either campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, or via the WBWC Internet web site at www.wbwc.com.

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 e-mail 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 Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.