Greencastle, Ind. - After trailing by as many as 10 in the opening half, fourth-ranked DePauw battled back for a 71-61 North Coast Athletic Conference win over visiting Oberlin. The Tigers improved to 19-1 overall and 11-0 in the NCAC with their 15th straight win, while the Yeowomen dropped to 7-12 overall and 4-6 in conference play.
The lead went back and forth in the opening quarter with six ties and five lead changes before Oberlin closed on a 6-0 run with 3-pointers by Sammy Spanier and Leo Ross to take a 20-15 lead at the quarter break. The Yeowomen pushed the lead to 29-19 after Ally Driscoll's layup with 6:18 left in the half. Mya Shannon responded with a three before Hayley Cange capitalized off an Oberlin turnover by converting a layup. Shannon knocked in another trey and Sydney Kopp turned a steal into a layup to tie the contest at 29-29 with 3:41 remaining.
Oberlin, however, regained the lead and extended it to five two more times before Shannon's third 3-pointer cut the halftime deficit to 36-34. The Yeowomen shot 54.2 percent from the floor in the opening half and knocked in five of six 3-pointers.
The third quarter was even more of a see-saw battle with nine lead changes and five ties before Kopp's two free throws with two seconds left gave DePauw a 49-48 edge as the teams headed to the fourth. Shannon, Claire Keefe and Grace Kinsey each hit buckets before Keefe added a pair of free throws. Oberlin missed its first six field goal tries of the quarter and the Tigers grabbed a 57-48 lead with 7:08 remaining. Oberlin hit buckets on back-to-back possessions to close the gap to 57-52, but Cange and Shannon scored to push the lead back to nine. The Yeowomen were no closer than eight the rest of the way and the Tigers knocked in seven of eight free throws in the final minute.
Shannon led all scorers with a career-high 23 with Kopp chipping in 17. Kopp and Cange each recorded six rebounds and Kinsey matched a career-high with seven assists. Jasmine Sorrells led Oberlin with 10 points, while Maggie Gross grabbed nine boards and Driscoll dished out five assists.
DePauw shot 38.2 percent from the field for the game and nailed 23 of 29 from the charity stripe, while Oberlin finished with 44.2 percent shooting from the floor. The Tigers held a 36-28 edge on the boards and committed 12 turnovers to Oberlin's 17 for a 17-7 advantage in points off of turnovers.
The Tigers return to action on Friday, Feb. 7, in a 6 p.m. NCAC game at Allegheny.