GAMBIER, Ohio – A brilliant start to Saturday's North Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball game went south in a hurry for the host Kenyon College Ladies. After building a 16-4 lead through the first seven minutes of play, the Ladies managed just one field goal the rest of the half. The drought left plenty of room for the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops to not only catch up, but to exit Tomsich Arena with a 51-43 victory.

Kenyon (3-8, 1-2 NCAC) stormed out to an early lead thanks to field goals from six different players. Bailey Dominguez scored the team's first three-pointer of the game and back-to-back buckets from Lauren Kriete pushed the Ladies ahead 11-2. Another three-pointer from Griffin Tullis, followed by a layup from Sidney Cera, gave Kenyon a 16-4 advantage with 13:16 left in the half.

Ohio Wesleyan (6-6, 2-1 NCAC) called a timeout after Cera's layup and decided to crank up the pressure on the defensive end. The result was an 11-minute dry spell for Kenyon. Ohio Wesleyan went on to rattle off 17 unanswered points and the Ladies did not score again until Ifeoma Archimalo hit two free throws with 2:33 on the clock.

Kriete added a three-pointer before the break, but Ohio Wesleyan got to halftime with a 28-21 advantage.

The Ladies did manage to whittle the OWU lead down to four points after Molly Rubin converted a layup with 10:23 left in the game, but that would be as close as Kenyon would get the rest of the way. Late in the game, the Ladies pulled within five points a couple of times, but each time it did Ohio Wesleyan had an answer.

Kriete led the Ladies with 10 points and six rebounds. Starting point guard Sarah Hobbs got into foul trouble early and finished with two points, two assists, and five rebounds. Dominguez, who also flirted with foul trouble, scored eight points and had four steals. Cera finished with seven points and Tullis added six for the Ladies.

On the other side of the floor, the Kenyon defense forced 23 turnovers and made 13 steals, but managed only 17 points off those miscues.

Ohio Wesleyan was paced by a dozen points from LaNiece McRae and ten points from Emily Julius. McRae also had seven rebounds, while Julius grabbed six. Kristin Henning came up just shy of a double-double as she netted nine points and nine boards.

The Ladies will continue conference play Wednesday, when they host the Oberlin College Yeowomen at 7:30 p.m.