NORTH MANCHESTER, INDIANA – Sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored a game-high tying 18 points as the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team defeated Denison University, 54-53, tonight (Friday, November  18, 2011) in the first game of the Manchester (Ind.) College MC Bankers Classic.   

With the victory,  the Yellow Jackets improved to 2-0 on the season and will play in the Championship Game tomorrow (Saturday, November 19) as they will face the winner of St. Mary's (Ind.) College and host Manchester College at 3:00 p.m.  With the loss, Denison Falls to 1-1 and will play in the Consolation Game at 1:00 p.m.

In addition to Lairson, sophomore forward Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) scored a career-high tying eight points and grabbed a career-best six rebounds.  Junior wing Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) also added eight points and  senior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/St. Mary's Central Catholic) contributed seven.   The Big Red was led by  Jane Windler with a game-high tying 18 points.

Denison opened the scoring when Windler connected on a layup at the 19:11 mark of the first half.   B-W knotted the game back up (2-2) when Lairson scored on a layup at the 18:38 mark.

The score would remain tied until Carpenter gave the Yellow Jackets their first lead of the game (3-2) as she split a pair of free throws with 17:39 remaining in the opening period.

The Big Red would then go on a 4-0 run to take a three point advantage (6-3) at the 16:26 mark on a layup by Windler.  B-W would then use a 3-0 run of their own to tie the game back up (6-6) on the second free throw by sophomore forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/Columbian) at 15:30.

The game would be tied four more times in the opening period with the last coming (14-14) at the 8:25 mark as neither team would go up by more than two points.  Denison would close the half by outscoring the Yellow Jackets 15-11 to lead 29-25 at the intermission.  

B-W opened the second half on a 7-0 run to regain the lead (32-29) at 17:45 on a three-pointer by Lairson and layups by Spisak and junior guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls).

The Big Red would regain the lead (35-34) on a layup Windler at the 15:48 mark.   The Yellow Jackets would tie the game for the seventh time when Simovic split a pair of free throws at 14:55.

B-W then would go on a 6-0 run over the next 2:34  sparked by three points each from Lairson and Simovic to take a 41-35 lead with 12:21 remaining in the second half.   Denison would use a 8-3 run to cut the lead down to just one point (44-43) on  a three-pointer by Serafina Nuzzo at the 8:37 mark.

After a time out, the Yellow Jackets would then go on another 6-1 run over the next five minutes to take a six point advantage with 3:37 left in the game.  The Big Red would respond with a 7-2 run to cut the lead down to one point (52-51) on a jumper by Alyx Ingram at the 2:32 mark.

The two teams would exchange a pair of free throws by B-W junior forward Nancy Coulter (Washington Court House/Miami Trace) and Denison's Nuzzo to give the Yellow Jackets a 54-53 advantage with 44 second left in the game

After a B-W turnover with 17 seconds remaining, the Big Red  had one more chance to win the game but  Nicole Coggins would miss a layup with two seconds to play and Rossman would corral the rebound to end the game.

The Yellow Jackets. B-W will return home on Tuesday, November 22 when it will host Cleveland cross-town rival Case Western Reserve University in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m.