GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College women's basketball team got the start it wanted Saturday and held a first-quarter lead against the No. 4-ranked DePauw University Tigers. Sydney Kopp then took over in the second quarter and jump-started DePauw, which pulled away from Kenyon and went on to record a 59-42 North Coast Athletic Conference win.

Kopp, the conference's leading scorer at 22.5 points per game, ended up with a game-high 18 points against the Ladies. After Kenyon established a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, Kopp rattled off 11 straight second-quarter points to take the Tiger from a three-point deficit to an eight-point lead.

Kopp and the Tigers had to mount the comeback after being held to just 4-of-14 shooting (28.6 percent) in the first quarter. The Tigers did break out of the gate with a 9-4 lead, but Kenyon buckled down on defense, forced five turnovers and generated a 10-2 run fueled by a couple of three-pointers from sophomore Madelyn Anderson. That outburst paved the way for Kenyon's three-point lead at the end of the quarter.

DePauw, after making just four field goals in the first ten minutes, went 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) in the second quarter and moved into halftime with a 38-26 advantage.

Kenyon chipped its deficit down to 11 points on three different occasions during third quarter, but could not pull any closer the rest of the way. DePauw (17-1, 9-0 NCAC) went ahead by as many as 19 points late in the third and by as many as 21 early in the fourth.

In addition to Kopp's 18 points, the Tigers got 12 points and 13 rebounds from junior forward Claire Keefe, who dominated the paint and helped DePauw to a slight 40-32 advantage on the boards and a big 14-0 margin in second-chance points.

Kenyon did a great job of sharing the scoring load, but no player reached a double-digit mark. Junior Kiele Anderson led the Ladies with eight points, going 3-of-3 overall with a 2-of-2 showing from long range. Senior Paige Matijasich added seven points, while Madelyn Anderson, Amanda Carroll and Grace Connery each scored six.

Matijasich and Greta Propp did the majority of the work on the boards for Kenyon (6-12, 3-7 NCAC). Matijasich grabbed eight rebounds, while Prop snared seven.

The win completed the season sweep for DePauw, which claimed a 56-42 home win over Kenyon back on December 31.