Owls defeated by undefeated Big Red

GRANVILLE, Ohio — Returning earlier this week from a two-game slate in Puerto Rico, the Kenyon College women’s basketball team struggled to get its bearings Saturday afternoon in a 85-54 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) loss at Denison University.

The unbeaten and No. 20-ranked Big Red (13-0, 2-0 NCAC) raced out to a quick start and never looked back. The host squad shot 50.0 percent from the floor in the first half while constructing early leads of 12-4 and 21-7. Junior guard Abby Cooch set the tone for Denison, as she poured in 16 first-half points, going 5-of-8 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers, and a 4-of-4 performance at the free throw stripe.Kenyon countered with the play of sophomore guard Susannah Zimmerman, who posted 11 first-half points on 5-of-7 shooting. Zimmerman and the rest of the Owls, however, had difficulty holding on to the ball. Kenyon coughed up 15 turnovers in the half and Denison flipped those miscues into a dozen points.The Big Red led by as many as 25 points during those first two quarters and settled on a 49-28 halftime lead.Kenyon played better defense in the second half, bringing Denison’s shooting percentage down to 34.3 percent and keeping the Big Red’s scoring output to under 20 points a quarter. On the other end of the floor, Denison did the same, tightening the screws on defense and allowing just 26 Kenyon points over the final 20 minutes of play. For the game, Kenyon ended up shooting 27.5 percent (19-of-69), while Denison finished at 42.6 percent (29-of-68).Additionally, Denison forced Kenyon into 11 more turnovers, resulting in 23 fast-break points throughout the game, as well as a significant 42-22 difference for points scored in the paint.The Big Red went on to lead by as many as 33 points in the third quarter, while Kenyon never got closer than 24 the rest of the way. Zimmerman was held to just two second-half points, but still finished with a team 13 points for the game. Senior Alyssa Gest came off the bench and scored 10 points, all in the fourth quarter. First-year Rae Oberster tossed in seven points to go along with a team-high five rebounds, while both Kiana Mollabashy and Abby Burdette added six points apiece to the Kenyon total.Cooch finished with a game-high 21 points for the Big Red. Ada Taute and Brooke Toigo contributed 10 points apiece and were two of 14 players who registered at least two points for the home team.Kenyon (4-8, 0-2 NCAC) will continue its taxing road trip, traveling next to Richmond, Indiana on Monday to take on the Earlham College Quakers (1-10, 0-5 HCAC) in a non-conference contest. 

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