Box Score GAMBIER, Ohio – Tuesday evening at Tomsich Arena, the Kenyon College women's basketball team took on the DePauw University Tigers in a physical contest that pitted the top two teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Both squads left the game with bumps and bruises, but it was DePauw, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, that also carried home a 77-57 victory.

Before tip-off, the conference standings showed the undefeated Tigers (20-0, 11-0 NCAC) with a two-game lead over the Ladies. The Kenyon women (14-6, 8-3 NCAC) looked to cut that deficit to one game, but only fell further behind DePauw, the defending NCAC champion.

Junior Maureen Hirt had a spectacular game, leading Kenyon with 26 points and six rebounds. She sank all eight of her free throw attempts and connected on a pair of three-pointers to keep the Ladies within striking distance.

Throughout the first half of play, Hirt and the Ladies did everything they could to keep the game manageable against a Tigers team that boasts one of the best defenses in the nation. The Ladies fired in shots at 44.0 percent (11-of-25), but foul trouble nullified their efforts. The Ladies committed 10 fouls in the first 20 minutes and DePauw turned in a 12-of-13 performance at the stripe to maintain its lead.

At the half, the Ladies were down by just six points (35-29), but they were unable to keep the game that close in the second half. The Tigers scored the first eight points upon their return to the floor and never looked back. DePauw went ahead by as many as 23 points and Kenyon never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Every time it looked like Kenyon would make a push, a different DePauw player would step up and knock down a big shot or came up with a defensive stop. In the end, three DePauw players, led by Ali Ross and her 17 points, scored double-digit marks. Another three DePauw players grabbed seven or more rebounds and helped lift the Tigers to a significant 42-25 advantage on the boards.

On the other end of the court, Hirt didn't get much reinforcement from the rest of the Ladies. No other Kenyon player scored more than seven points and no other player had more than three rebounds.

With just five games left in the regular season, the Ladies will look to bounce back from this contest with a win at Denison University. They'll take on the rival Big Red Friday at 7:30 p.m. Denison is 11-8 overall and currently riding a four-game win streak.