Box Score
GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College Ladies basketball team survived a game-long press from the visiting Allegheny College Gators and put together an impressive 78-63 North Coast Athletic Conference victory in what was a frantically paced game Tuesday night at Tomsich Arena.
Allegheny (6-3, 1-1 NCAC) did everything it could to pester the Ladies up and down the court, but the veteran play of
Maggie Boelter steered the Ladies out of trouble time and time again. A senior point guard, Boelter was forced into five turnovers, but she more than compensated by dishing out seven assists and scoring a game-high 23 points. Those 23 points were also a career-high for Boelter, whose previous single-game best was 21 against Earlham College a few weeks ago. Once Boelter directed play over the line and into the Kenyon zone, she proceeded to bury 7-of-12 shots, including 4-of-7 three-pointers. She was also 5-of-7 at the free throw line, where the Ladies went 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) as a team.
Boelter was not the only Kenyon player to turn in a career-best. Senior post
Autumn Anderson got off to a quick start and ended up pumping in 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 4-of-5 shooting from the stripe. Her previous career best was 18 points in the season-opener against Olivet College.
Kenyon's leading scoring, senior
Maureen Hirt, was held under her season scoring average, but she wasn't taken completely out of the game. Hirt still managed to score 13 points and grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds for her second double-double in the past three games. Hirt's effort gave the Ladies a huge lift on the boards, where they posted a 49-35 advantage over the Gators.
It took a few minutes for the Ladies (6-3, 2-0 NCAC) to grow accustomed to the defensive pressure. As they did, Allegheny jumped out to early leads of 5-2 and 8-5. A Boelter three-pointer at the 17:01 mark tied things up for the first of five times over the next seven minutes of play. At the midway point of the half,
Avery Anderson nailed two free throws that put Kenyon ahead for good.
The Ladies' lead grew to as many as ten points before Allegheny went on a 6-2 run to close out the half, leaving Kenyon with a 39-35 advantage at the break. The Gators closed to within one point (46-45) at the 13:32 mark of the second half, but
Autumn Anderson, Boelter, and
Lauren Kriete pushed the lead back out to seven points with four consecutive layups in a two-minute span.
Down the stretch, Kenyon converted seven of its final ten free throws to put the game away.
The Ladies will have plenty of time to enjoy the win, as they don't play again until December 31. That game will be against neighbor Mount Vernon Nazarene University and will have a 1 p.m. tip-off at the Cougars' new Ariel Arena.
