Owls use balanced attack to hold off Heidelberg

GAMBIER, Ohio — Four Kenyon College players rang up double-digit scoring marks and 10 scored at least two points as the Owls posted a 79-71 non-conference win over the Heidelberg University Student Princes at Tomsich Arena on Tuesday night.

Kenyon’s leading scorer, for the second time in as many games, was sophomore guard Susannah Zimmerman. She poured in a game-high 18 points with half of her points generated on a 9-of-10 showing at the free throw line. Fellow sophomores Kiana Mollabashy and Alyssa Horsley added 13 and 11 points, respectively, and senior Anissa Hardy rounded out the Owls’ double-digit scorers with another 11 points. Those same four players accounted for 24 rebounds, nearly half of the team’s total of 49. Hardy led the way with eight. Horsley had six and both Zimmerman and Mollabashy grabbed five.Kenyon maintained the lead for roughly 99 percent of the game. The Student Princes scored the game’s first field goal, which held up for about a minute before Kenyon tied things up and then took the lead on Zimmerman’s first bucket of the game.Heidelberg later closed to within two points, at 8-6, but Kenyon took off on a 16-1 run to close out the quarter with a 24-7 advantage. Abby Burdette and Lauren Munoz drained three-pointers in the run, which was also fueled by a 6-of-6 performance at the free throw line.Throughout the game, Kenyon shot well at the line, going 22-of-29 (75.9 percent). The Owls were particularly good over the first three quarters, in which they were 16-of-19 (84.2 percent).In the second quarter, Kenyon senior Grace Murphy scored six of her seven points and helped the Owls maintain a double-digit lead, going into the break with a 47-36 score.The Student Princes picked up the pace in the second half and also began pounding the paint. The change got Heideberg to within seven points at the end of the third quarter and as close as four points on three different occasions in the fourth quarter.With 2:39 left in the game and Kenyon clinging to a 70-66 lead, Mollabashy came up with a huge three-pointer that provided all the separation Kenyon would need. The Student Princes never got closer than five the rest of the way. Kenyon’s final six points came at the free throw stripe and Heidelberg avoided a double-digit defeat by draining a three-pointer in the game’s final second.The win makes Kenyon 2-0 to start the season for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign. The loss sent Heidelberg to 0-2.

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