Owls look to tame Tigers in NCAC Quarterfinal

GAMBIER, Ohio – After closing out the regular season on Saturday against Hiram College, the Kenyon College women's basketball team will travel to Springfield, Ohio to take on the Wittenberg University Tigers in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament's quarterfinal round. The playoff matchup will take place on Tuesday, February 20 at 8:00 pm.

Historically, the Owls have kept it tight with the Tigers, earning a 16-17 record since 2010 against the conference foe. However, Kenyon has struggled of late, dropping eight straight against Wittenberg, including a 81-37 loss on January 6 and a 71-46 loss on January 27 of this season.

The Owls will look to top the second-seeded Tigers after coming in as the seventh seed in the NCAC postseason bracket. Kenyon compiled a 3-22 overall record during the 2023-24 campaign and garnered a 1-13 record in the conference. After rattling off back-to-back wins in November against Defiance College and Earlham College, the Owls would go on a dry spell until topping the College of Wooster, 63-44, in January.

Wittenberg earned the right to host the quarterfinal matchup after earning a share of the NCAC regular-season championship, tying DePauw University and Ohio Wesleyan University atop the conference standings with an 11-3 record. The Tigers' only NCAC losses came at the hands of Denison University and DePauw (twice), as the team ended the season on a four-game win streak to cap off an 18-6 season. Statistically, the Tigers rank second in overall offense and fourth in defense in the NCAC, and own the conference's top field goal percentage (0.437).

In the two regular-season matchups against Wittenberg, Kenyon had two different leading scorers, as Mikayla Rudolph (13 points) and Alyssa Gest (20 points) paced the Owls' efforts. Senior center Claudia Cooke, the conference's second-leading scorer (15.3 ppg) and fourth-leading rebounder (8.1 rpg) will no doubt need to have a big impact after being held to 11 and eight points, respectively, in both games against Wittenberg this January.

The winner of Tuesday's quarterfinal matchup will advance to the NCAC Tournament semifinal round on Friday. The NCAC Tournament championship is scheduled to be played Saturday. Both those rounds will be played at top-seeded DePauw, or the site of the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals.

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Players Mentioned

#30 Claudia Cooke: C; 6' 1"; Junior

#23 Alyssa Gest: G; 5' 6"; First-Year

#22 Mikayla Rudolph: F; 6' 0"; First-Year

Players Mentioned

#30 Claudia Cooke
: 6' 1"; Junior
: C

#23 Alyssa Gest
: 5' 6"; First-Year
: G

#22 Mikayla Rudolph
: 6' 0"; First-Year
: F

Players Mentioned

#30 Claudia Cooke

#23 Alyssa Gest

#22 Mikayla Rudolph

Players Mentioned

#30 Claudia Cooke

#23 Alyssa Gest

#22 Mikayla Rudolph