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DELAWARE, Ohio – The Kenyon College women’s basketball team held tough with Ohio Wesleyan through the first 10 minutes on Wednesday night’s penultimate road test in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season, but could not keep up with the conference’s top team in the end.
The Owls boasted a 63.6 shooting percentage from the floor and were perfect from beyond the arc to start the game and hung tight with the undefeated Bishops, but the home team prevailed in the second half en route to an 89-47 victory.
Alyssa Horsley commanded Kenyon’s (2-19, 0-11 NCAC) attack in the opening quarter, firing the team’s first 11 points on 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) shooting and hitting her lone three-pointer. After Horsley’s solo run led the team to an 11-16 deficit with 4:16 to go on the first, Susannah Zimmerman converted on an and-one to cut the lead to just two points. Just before the frame came to an end, Alexis Newman banked home a jumper to set the score 16-24 after 10 minutes.
After a strong start, the Owls’ offense began to slow down as the turnovers caused by the Bishops’ press piled up. Zimmerman started off the second with a triple and a nice layup, but for five minutes afterwards Ohio Wesleyan (20-2, 11-0 NCAC) held the visitors scoreless, racking up 21 first-half turnovers in the process.
Kiana Mollabashy ended the drought with a three of her own and Horsley added another bucket to extend her team-high stat line to 13 points, but the Bishops created a 49-26 advantage going into the half.
A trio of three-point plays highlighted Kenyon’s offense after halftime, as Horsley added to her strong outing by converting on an and-one. Katherine Organ got in the mix firing a three-pointer and so did Mollabashy with 35 seconds to play in the quarter. Despite the 2-for-2 mark, the Bishops built a 73-37 lead after 30 minutes.
Zimmerman led the Owls with four points in the fourth to put her over her career-best total, finishing with 12 points, while Horsely’s three points in the final frame put her at 19 points, just three away from her career high. In the end, it wasn’t enough to stop the Bishops, who took the game 89-47.
Besides leading the team in points, Horsely also hauled in nine boards and dished out three assists tied with ZImmerman and Newman.
Kenyon’s record drops to 2-19 on the season and 0-11 in the conference. The Owls final road contest of the season will come on Saturday at 1:00 pm against DePauw.
