WOOSTER, Ohio – Senior guard Evy Iacono (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) led a balanced scoring attack with 14 points, and the Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team led the entire way in a 61-44 non-conference road victory versus The College of Wooster on Saturday afternoon inside Timken Gymnasium.
The Spartans snap a three-game losing skid and improve to 4-3 overall. The team is now idle for final exams and the holidays before returning to action on Thursday, December 20 at home versus Washington & Jefferson College (Pa.). With the loss, Wooster dips to 3-3.
As a defensive unit, Case limited the Fighting Scots to just 30.4 percent shooting from the floor (17-of-56), including 25% (4-of-16) from three-point range. Also of note, the Spartans defense forced 21 Fighting Scot turnovers.
The Spartans scored the opening points on the first possession of the game when sophomore forward Brooke Orcutt (Morrison, Colo./Dakota Ridge) tallied a lay-up. Over the next seven minutes, Case built its advantage to double digits when Iacono hit a three-pointer and a jump shot that sandwiched a bucket from senior forward Marissa Miles (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) and made the score 16-5 with 12:27 left in the opening half.
Locking down on the defensive end, the Spartan advantage grew to as many as 21, at 38-17, when junior guard Julie Mooney (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Jerome) knocked down a jumper assisted by Orcutt with 15 seconds left before half. Wooster's Maura Hall hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds, but Case took a decided 38-19 lead into halftime.
Out of the break, the Fighting Scots rattled off a 12-4 run during the opening 6:18 of action and cut the Case edge down to 11, at 42-31, following a lay-up from Karley Walker. However, Spartan sophomore forward Berit Eppard (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek) connected on a field goal during the next possession, and Wooster never threatened the Case lead again as the Spartans cruised to the 17-point win.
Iacono's 14 points came on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 at the charity stripe. In total, 14 Spartans saw the floor and nine found the scoring column. Eppard finished the contest with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Miles and freshman forward Laura Mummey (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) each had seven points. Mummey also pulled down six boards, dished out four assists and had two blocks as the Spartans held a 51-36 advantage on the boards.
Wooster was led by Jessica Wingen's double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Hall chipped in with 10 markers.
The Spartans' 6:00 p.m. game versus W&J on Dec. 20 will mark the team's first home game since November 20.