Box Score GAMBIER, Ohio – Senior guard Maureen Hirt scored 21 points Tuesday night, broke the Kenyon College women's basketball all-time scoring record, and guided the Ladies to a 78-58 win over the Wittenberg University Tigers in the opening round of the 2014 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Tomsich Arena.

Hirt entered Tuesday's elimination game with 1,778 career points and needed 17 points to surpass the previous record of 1,794 career points set by Kim Graf, a 1997 graduate. Hirt took a little while to warm up against Wittenberg, but a couple of three-pointers lifted her to a 15-point first half.

Meanwhile, the Ladies jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Freshman guard Meredith Williams kicked-started the team with two points, two rebounds, and an assist within the game's first three minutes. Junior guard Sarah Hobbs came off the bench to drop in a three-pointer and sophomore post Shelby Gray followed up with back-to-back buckets that gave Kenyon a 15-7 lead.

Hirt's first three-pointer of the game, followed by another jumper from Gray, extended the Kenyon lead to 24-13. That 11-point margin held up through the half and Kenyon took a 39-28 lead into the break.

Needing just one more field goal to break the Kenyon career scoring record, Hirt didn't let too much time pass in the second half. With 18:14 still showing on the clock, Hirt penetrated lane, made a move to her left, and rolled in an easy layup for the record-setting bucket. Those two points pushed her career total to 1,795 points and also gave the Ladies a 45-30 lead.

Hirt went on to pop in four more points. Her final total of 21 points came on 8-of-14 shooting, including a 2-of-6 performance from beyond the three-point arc. She was also perfect at the free throw line, sinking three freebies. That ran her streak to 25 straight free throws, dating back to January 22. Hirt also had eight rebounds in 32 minutes of playing time against the Tigers.

Wittenberg (14-11), the tournament's No. 5 seed, never put anything together in the second half and witnessed the Ladies' lead balloon to as many as 25 points on three separate occasions. The Tigers were led by Heather Schroeder's 15 points, as well as 11 points from Enri Small and ten points from Michelle Brunswick. Amber Rice, who entered the game averaging 17.2 points per game was held to just six points by the Ladies defense.

While Hirt certainly deserved the spotlight, Kenyon had plenty of other contributors. Gray ended up scoring nine points in the first half and finished the game with a career-high 11 points. Williams and Avery Anderson both chipped in with ten points and Lauren Kriete was good for eight points and six rebounds. Senior guard Maggie Boelter served up nine assists for the third straight game. She now has 104 assists on the season and 349 assists for her career. That career mark ranks third all-time in Kenyon Ladies' history.

The victory puts the No. 4-seeded Ladies (16-9) into the NCAC Tournament semifinal round for the tenth straight season. They will next face the No. 1-seeded DePauw University Tigers, the defending national champions who defeated The College of Wooster, 71-40, in their Tuesday quarterfinal game.

The semifinal game between Kenyon and DePauw will take place Friday, February 28 at 8 p.m. and will be preceded by the other NCAC semifinal game between Ohio Wesleyan University and Denison University. The winner of the semifinals will meet in Saturday's championship game. Both semifinal games and the championship game will be held at DePauw's Neal Fieldhouse in Greencastle, Indiana.