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Kenyon College Athletics

Katie Orefice
Sejin Kim
77
Winner Denison Den 10-15,5-9 NCAC
55
Kenyon Kenyon 8-17,4-10 NCAC
Winner
Denison Den
10-15,5-9 NCAC
77
Final
55
Kenyon Kenyon
8-17,4-10 NCAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Denison Den 14 20 14 29 77
Kenyon Kenyon 12 7 13 23 55

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Owls fall in regular-season finale

GAMBIER, Ohio -- Katie Orefice, the lone senior on the Kenyon College women's basketball team, scored 21 points Saturday and accounted for 38 percent of the Owls' offense, but even she was not immune to the team's shooting struggles in a 77-55 loss to the Denison University Big Red.

Orefice's 21 points left her on the doorstep of 900 for her career. Despite playing only three seasons, Orefice now has 894 career points. Saturday's output was not easy to come by, as the team leader shot 5-of-19 overall. At the free throw line, however, she went 11-of-14. 

As a team, the Owls fired at 25.9 percent (7-of-27) in the first half, making plenty of room for Denison to run out to a 14-12 lead after one quarter and a 34-19 lead at halftime. The second quarter was particularly rough for Kenyon, which made two field goals in 13 attempts.

In that second quarter, Denison scored six straight before Orefice hit a jumper at the 6:29 mark. The Big Red answered with an 8-1 run that gave them a 13-point lead and a Hannah Wynn layup, right before the buzzer, pushed the advantage to 15 at the break.

Prior to that, Kenyon played right with Denison in the first quarter, never letting the Big Red get ahead by more than four points. Orefice scored five in that opening frame.

First-year Anissa Hardy tried to back up Orefice as best she could. She wound up playing 25 minutes, a span in which she scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

While Kenyon had just two double-digit scorers, Denison had five. Ava Warcaba led the way with 16. Mikaila Carpenter and Abigail Westmeyer scored 12 apiece and both Gabby Elliott and Maddie Goodman fired in 11.

Kenyon's Mikayla Rudolph, who finished the game with eight points, cracked open third-quarter play with four straight to bring the Denison lead down to 11. From there, the Owls would not get any closer.

The Big Red outscored Kenyon 14-13 in the third quarter and then 29-23 in the fourth to seal the 22-point victory. Denison finished the game shooting 45.1 percent (32-of-71), while Kenyon wound up at 32.1 percent (18-of-56). 

With Kenyon center Claudia Cooke still sidelined due to injury, opponents continue to attack the Owls defense down low. Saturday, the Big Red outscored the Owls in the paint, 50-24.

The loss, in what was the regular-season finale for both teams, dropped Kenyon's marks to 8-17 overall and 4-10 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Denison moved to 10-15 overall and 5-9 in NCAC play.

With postseason play on the horizon, the Owls will now go into the NCAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed in the eight-team field. They'll head to No. 3-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University on Tuesday for the tournament's quarterfinal round. 
 
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