Gambier, Ohio - Seventh-ranked DePauw trailed Kenyon by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, but the Tigers outscored the Ladies, 37-12, over the final 15:41 to take a 61-49 North Coast Athletic Conference victory. With their 19th straight win, the Tigers improved to 23-1 overall and 15-0 in the NCAC and wrapped up their sixth NCAC title in seven seasons. Kenyon dropped to 18-5 overall and 11-3 in conference play.
The Tigers misfired on all 12 field goal attempts in the first period and Kenyon grabbed a 14-6 lead. Claire Keefe ended the drought with a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second and DePauw eventually closed the gap to two at 18-16. Kenyon scored the next nine to push the lead to 11 and the Ladies led at the intermission, 27-18.
Kenyon quickly extended the margin to 13 early in the third with the last coming on Sharon Hull's jumper that made it 37-24 with 5:49 remaining in the third. The gap was still nine at 40-31 before Maya Howard's layup started a 9-0 run. With that bucket, Howard became the 17th player in DePauw women's history to reach 1,000 points. Emily Budde's jumper tied the game at 40-40, but Paige Matijasich's trey gave Kenyon a 43-40 advantage as the teams headed to the fourth.
Budde evened the score with a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth and gave the Tigers the lead for good with another 3-pointer at the 6:14 mark. Howard's layup moved the DePauw lead to five before Kenyon knocked in a free throw to make it 48-44. Howard made a pair of charity tosses to give DePauw a 6-point lead before Hull nailed a three to close the DePauw lead to 50-47.
Sydney Kopp made two free throws before Howard and Budde added buckets to make it 56-47. Jessica Gerber's layup brought Kenyon to within seven, but Kopp nailed a 3-pointer to make it 59-49 with 41 seconds left and start a game-ending 5-0 stretch for the Tigers.
Budde paced DePauw with 22 points including 20 in the second half, while Howard added 19. Howard also dished out six assists in the win. Hull led Kenyon with 16 and Matijasich added 10.
DePauw outrebounded the Ladies, 41-26, as Hayley Cange grabbed seven for DePauw. Griffin Tullis and Ifeoma Archimalo each had six for Kenyon.
The Tigers shot 35.1 percent from the field to Kenyon's 40.8 percent and DePauw had 12 turnovers to the Ladies' 18.
DePauw returns home for a 3 p.m. game with Oberlin on Saturday, February 17, in the final game before the NCAC Tournament.