BEREA, Ohio—Sophomore guard Kathleen Phillips (Sandusky/St. Mary's) poured in a game-high 25 points, but the Heidelberg University women's basketball team lost an Ohio Athletic Conference game at Baldwin-Wallace College, 70-63, tonight at Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in Berea, Ohio. The game was the third in five days for the Berg. Catherine Spisak recorded a double-double for B-W, scoring 10 points and pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds.
Heidelberg (2-6, 0-2 OAC) was led by Phillips, who was 10-of-26 shooting and four-of-four from the free-throw line, and led the team in scoring for the fourth consecutive game and sixth time in eight contests this season. Sophomore guard Emily Giel (Burton/Burkshire) followed with 10 markers and freshman guard Paige Ricketts (Mineral City/Tusky Valley) scored nine points and was a perfect seven-of-seven from the charity stripe. Sophomore forward Kyra Dorney (Fairborn/Greenon) grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
In addition to Spisak for the Yellow Jackets (5-2, 1-1 OAC), Jessica Carpenter tallied 20 points, Nancy Coulter added 12 points and five rebounds, and Jessica Lairson had 10 points.
Heidelberg started the game with a 4-0 run as sophomore guard Megan Miller (Tiffin/Columbian) and Phillips both canned jumpers by the 17:02 mark.
Carpenter then led B-W on a 17-5 run, making three field goals, including a pair of three-pointers, as B-W took a 17-9 lead following a Carpenter triple with 10:43 on the clock.
The Berg went on a 16-9 run of its own that spanned nearly nine minutes to close to within 26-25 at the 2:11 mark when Giel buried a triple. Following a foul by Lexi Rohrbach, Giel gave Heidelberg a 27-26 lead with a pair of free throws with 1:41 to play in the opening half.
The Yellow Jackets regained the lead, 28-27, when Carpenter made a lay-up with 48 seconds to play and went into the locker room at halftime with a 30-27 advantage as Coulter made a buzzer-beating lay-up.
B-W opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 40-29 lead at the 16:53 mark when Spisak made a lay-up.
Phillips closed the gap to 45-44 with 12:34 to play with her fifth field goal of a 15-5 run.
Coulter increases B-W's lead to 50-44 with an offensive rebound and tip-in with 10:39 on the clock, but freshman guard Emily Hopton (Wickliffe/Athens) and Miller made a lay-up and a jumper, respectively, on consecutive possessions to close to within 50-48.
The Yellow Jackets again extended their lead to six points at 54-48 with 8:31 to play following a pair of free throws made by Lairson and Carpenter. B-W began to pull away, leading by as many as 12 points with 4:31 left in the game.
Heidelberg would cut the deficit to six points on two separate occasions, with the last coming with 26 seconds on the clock as Ricketts canned a pair of free throws.
The Tri-Color shot 37.9 percent (22-of-58), its best mark in four games, and 78.9 percent (15-of-19) from the charity stripe, its second highest mark of the season.
B-W was 42.9 percent (24-of-56) shooting, 85.7 percent (18-of-21) from the line, and held a 44-28 rebounding advantage.
The Berg ends a stretch of eight days in which it will have played four games Saturday, Dec. 7 when it faces Muskingum University at 2 p.m. in New Concord, Ohio in the first game of an OAC men's and women's basketball doubleheader.