GAMBIER, Ohio – Kenyon College senior
Paige Matijasich scored 21 points and racked up six rebounds in Wednesday night's women's basketball game, but Ohio Wesleyan University's Cierra Joiner and Claire Sterling combined for 46 points and guided the visiting Battling Bishops to a 72-64 victory.
Joiner shot 11-of-19 and posted a game-high 25 points, while Sterling went 7-of-15 for 21 points. Joiner also racked up a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with three steals and a pair of assists. Sterling rounded out her stat line with seven rebounds and four assists.
Joiner had nine points in the first quarter and carried the Battling Bishops to a 17-11 lead after ten minutes of play. In the second quarter, the Ohio Wesleyan lead grew to as many as 12 points after Sterling capped off a quick 7-2 run with a three-pointer at the 3:24 mark. Kenyon responded with a couple of buckets from
Bridget Molnar and closed the gap to 33-27 at the half.
The conference foes played evenly for the first five minutes of the third quarter, but after that, Kenyon took control. The Ladies whipped up a 7-0 run to take just their second lead of the game, at 45-44. The Kenyon spurt consisted of a jumper from
Kiele Anderson, two free throws from Matijasich and three-pointer from
Madelyn Anderson.
A minute-and-a-half after Anderson's trey, Sterling completed a three-point play to give Ohio Wesleyan the lead for good. She and Joiner built the lead back out to eight points, but a deep three-pointer from
Ellie Schaub gave the Ladies another chance, as they headed to the final quarter down 53-50.
Although Kenyon remained close, Joiner and Sterling took command again and closed out the game. The two accounted for 12 of Ohio Wesleyan's final 14 points.
Following up on Matijasich's output,
Amanda Carroll added 10 points and three rebounds to the Kenyon totals. Schaub finished with eight points and five assists, while
Katie Orefice chipped in with seven points, four rebounds and three assists.
The loss dropped the Ladies to 6-10 overall and 3-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. On the other side of the court, Ohio Wesleyan improved to 8-7 overall and 3-3 in NCAC action.
Next up for the Ladies is a Wednesday night game at Hiram College.
