OBERLIN, Ohio – A slow start in Wednesday's basketball game at Oberlin College turned out to be the Kenyon College Ladies' downfall. Outscored 16-2 during the first ten minutes of play, the Ladies never completely made up that ground and fell, 52-41, to the host Yeowomen.

The loss halted Kenyon's win streak at seven games and moved the Ladies' records to 16-6 overall and 10-3 within North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) action. The Ladies still remain in second place in the standings, but Wednesday's loss secured the regular-season conference crown for the DePauw University Tigers (22-1, 14-0 NCAC), who visit Gambier on Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.

On the other side of the court, Oberlin won for the sixth time in its last seven games and improved to 10-12 overall and 7-6 in the NCAC.

The Ladies missed their first 11 shots of the game, allowing the Yeowomen to slowly build a 14-0 advantage. It wasn't until the 3:24 mark of the first quarter that Kenyon got on the board with a jumper from senior Sidney Cera. That was it, however, for the Ladies, who shot 1-of-16 throughout the first frame.

Things started looking up in the second quarter as the Ladies scored nine points, including a three-pointer from Cera, within a five-minute span. Meanwhile, the Kenyon defense was doing its part, holding the Yeowomen scoreless for a four-minutes stretch and forcing ten turnovers in the half. The offense, however, converted those turnovers into just four points and the Ladies went into the intermission trailing 24-14.

The third quarter was similar to the second. Kenyon shot a little bit better and outscored the Yeowomen by a few points to narrow the gap to seven points at 34-27 going into the final ten minutes of play.

The Ladies, who trailed by as many as 13 in the second half, made one final push. A couple of buckets from Griffin Tullis, followed by five straight points from Paige Matijasich, got the Ladies within four points. Less than a minute later, Miranda Diesz converted a three-point play and Kenyon was down by just two at 43-41 with 3:19 remaining.

That would be the end of the line for Kenyon. The Ladies missed their final five shots and were outscored 9-0 over the final three minutes of play. Overall, Kenyon was 16-of-60 from the field (26.7 percent), while Oberlin finished 19-of-47 (40.4 percent).

Matijasich ended up leading Kenyon with nine points, all scored in the second half. Tullis finished with seven points and seven rebounds, while Cera, Diesz and Bailey Dominguez each scored five. Senior Charlotte Bussema led the way on the glass with nine rebounds.

Oberlin's Alex Stipano was a thorn in Kenyon's side throughout the game. She went 4-of-5 from long range and logged a game-high 18 points. Abby Andrews added ten points, while Olivia Canning chalked up 11 points and six rebounds.