Shooting struggles lead to loss at Wooster

WOOSTER, Ohio — The Kenyon College women’s basketball team was shaky with its shooting touch Wednesday evening and fell, 64-53, on the road to the Fighting Scots of The College of Wooster. 

The loss dropped Kenyon’s record to 6-18 overall, including a 1-12 mark within the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), and officially eliminated the Owls from any hope of postseason play. Wooster, which split the season series with Kenyon, improved to 11-13 overall and 3-10 in NCAC action.

Kenyon dug a hole early, shooting 7-of-33 (21.2 percent) in the first half. On the other side of the court, Ace Sturdivant got off to a hot start for Wooster. She was on target with a couple of three-pointers that lifted her to eight first-quarter points and her team to a slight 14-13 lead.

Kenyon’s second quarter was one to forget, but it did not put the Owls out of contention. Kenyon was just 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) in the frame and managed to score just nine points. Kiana Mollabashy drilled a three-pointer at the 5:43 mark to temporarily stop the drought, but the Owls were still trailing 22-16 at that point and remained behind, 28-22, at the half.

The Owls then flipped the switch in the third quarter, scoring the first eight points and moving ahead 30-28. Susannah Zimmerman connected on a pull-up jumper, Abby Burdette buried a three-pointer, and Anissa Hardy converted a three-point play all within a span of 80 seconds.

The two teams then traded the lead for the remainder of the third quarter, but Wooster got to the end with a slim 43-41 advantage. The Fighting Scots clinged to that lead the rest of the way and then put the game away in the final minutes.

At the 5:25 mark of the fourth quarter, Mollabashy canned another three-pointer to keep Kenyon within two points, but Wooster answered with the next five points and never let the Owls get closer than that. Wooster scored the final six points of the game to make the final 11-point margin the largest of the contest.

Hardy led Kenyon with 14 points. She also grabbed five rebounds, to go along with two steals and a block. Mollabashy wound up with a trio of three-pointers, 11 total points, six rebounds, three steals, and three blocks. Grace Murphy rang up a team-high seven rebounds and scored eight points.

Sturdivant, who got off to that quick start, led all scorers with 21. She had eight rebounds, too, but it was Ella Biondi who led all players with 14 boards. Biondi also registered 10 points in just 17 minutes of action.

Kenyon will finish off its 2025-26 season on Saturday with a 1 p.m. road game at Oberlin College. 

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