DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University (11-11, 7-6 NCAC) overcame a shaky start to eventually prevail over Kenyon College (6-14, 4-8 NCAC) 75-71 Saturday afternoon in a North Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball game at Branch Rickey Arena.

The Battling Bishops were led by LaNiece McRae who came off the bench to score a game-high 23 points and collect five steals. Megan Kuether added 22 points including a 13-of-14 line at the charity stripe.

Bailey Dominguez paced Kenyon with a career-best 22 points as she hit 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range. Lauren Kriete added 13 points and grabbed four rebounds while Avery Anderson contributed 12 points. Three other Ladies scored at least five points.

The first half was controlled by Kenyon as they led throughout the first 20 minutes. Dominguez's three-pointer with just about five minutes left gave the Ladies their biggest lead at 35-22. But the Battling Bishops slowly pulled the game back to within reach closing the first half with an 11-2 run and bringing the halftime score to 37-33 Ladies.

Kenyon's offense was superb in the first half hitting 51.7% of its shots including a 7-of-9 showing from long range.

OWU started the second half and continued to chip away at the Kenyon lead and following two free throws from Kristin Henning, the score became tied at 43.

Dominguez responded with a jumper to put the Ladies up 47-46 and then Kriete scored from downtown to push Kenyon up 50-46 with just under 12 minutes remaining, however, the Battling Bishops responded with a game-changing run.

McRae ignited a 12-0 stretch for OWU scoring seven points over nearly three minutes and gave her team a 58-50 lead with 8:42 left.

The Ladies clawed back to cut the deficit to two points (71-69) following an Anderson layup, but the Battling Bishops hit several crucial free throws in the final 30 seconds to hold on.

OWU had a sizable advantage at the foul line as they hit 24-of-31 (77.4%). They also held a 27-11 bench points advantage and converted 16 Ladies turnovers into 22 points.

Kenyon will try and snap its three-game losing streak when they visit Denison University (11-11, 7-6 NCAC) February 11. The Ladies defeated the Big Red 61-52 back on January 14.