Top-ranked Tigers survive late charge, move to 20-0

OBERLIN, Ohio -- The top-ranked DePauw women's basketball team survived a hot-shooting Oberlin squad and a second-half run by the hosts and earned a 67-62 North Coast Athletic Conference win Saturday.

DePauw improved to 20-0 overall and 11-0 in the NCAC with its 54th straight win and 73rd consecutive in the regular season. Oberlin dropped to 8-12 overall and 3-8 conference play.

Christina Marquette knocked in a three-pointer with 53 seconds left to bring the Yeowomen within three points of DePauw, but Oberlin was whistled for a foul on the subsequent possession which gave the Tigers a full shot clock.

Savannah Trees then extended DePauw's lead to five with a jumper with 17 seconds left. The Yeowomen couldn't convert on their next possession and Trees sealed the win with two free throws with seven seconds left. Oberlin added a basket in the final two seconds.

The game was tied just once at 2-2 and the Tigers held just a 12-10 lead with 13:22 left in the first half before embarking on a 9-0 run to take a 21-10 advantage with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half. Abby Keller scored the final four during the stretch that started with Jenna Stoner's three and a Trees layup.

DePauw took a 39-26 lead into the intermission despite Oberlin's 50 percent shooting from the floor.

The Tigers moved the lead to as many as 15 in the opening minutes of the second half before the Yeowomen responded with a 12-2 run over a 3:36 stretch capped by Lindsey Bernhardt's three with 9:38 left to make it 53-48.

An 8-2 DePauw run ending with an Ali Ross trey pushed the Tigers' lead up to 61-50 at the 4:18 mark. After Oberlin hit one of two free throws, DePauw failed to score on its next three possessions and the Yeowomen closed the gap to 61-57 with 2:00 left on back-to-back three-pointers from Bernhardt and Marquette. Trees countered with a jumper before Marquette's final three.

Trees, Ross and Alex Gasaway each scored 14 points in the win for DePauw. Lauren Abendroth, making her second collegiate start and taking the place of Hannah Douglas who was injured early in Wednesday's win at Denison, led the Tigers with six rebounds.

Marquette scored exactly half of Oberlin's points with 31 on 12-19 shooting from the field including 5-6 from three-point range and added a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Tigers, who lead the nation in fewest turnovers per game and are second in assist/turnover ratio, did nothing to hurt either of those rankings with 18 assists and just six turnovers. Emma Ondik paced DePauw with a career-high six assists and, over the last six games has 19 assists and no turnovers. Erin McGinnis had a career-best three steals for the Tigers. Malisa Hoak led Oberlin with six assists.

While Oberlin hit over 54 percent from the floor, DePauw knocked in 46.7 percent of its shots. Each team made seven three-pointers as Ondik connected on 3-of-4 and Ross hit both of her two tries from beyond the arc. Ondik, ranked second in Division III three-point percentage, is now hitting over 50 percent from three-point range for the season.

The Tigers return to action on Friday, February 7, when they host Allegheny at 8 p.m.