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DPU women's streak ends as rally falls short
DELAWARE, Ohio -- For the second time this season, DePauw's top-ranked women found themselves down by 15 to Ohio Wesleyan, but this time the Tigers' comeback was thwarted by the Battling Bishops as Ohio Wesleyan took a 65-64 North Coast Athletic Conference victory in the Branch Rickey Arena.
With the loss, DePauw's 58-game win streak came to an end as did its NCAA Division III record 30-game road streak. It also marked the end of the Tigers' 77-game regular season string and its 55-game conference streak.
Trailing by as many as 15 late in the first half, DePauw battled back with a 15-3 run that bridged the two halves and cut the Bishops' advantage to just three.
Fresh off its first loss in nearly two years, the DePauw women's basketball team must regroup quickly for the NCAC tournament.
The two-time defending NCAC tournament champions host Wooster at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in a conference tournament quarterfinal.
The top seed in the tournament, the Tigers carry a 24-1 record and a 15-1 conference mark into the matchup.
The eighth-seeded Fighting Scots come into the matchup at 7-17 and 2-14 in conference play. Wooster has lost three straight games entering the tournament.
The Tigers are 2-0 in a pair of regular-season matchups, winning 98-68 on Dec. 7 and at Wooster and 98-32 on Jan. 25 at Neal Fieldhouse.
Ohio Wesleyan still led by eight at 58-50 on Taylor Dickson's two free throws with 5:59 left. Hannah Douglas hit a layup and Erin McGinnis two free throws to close the gap to four before the Bishops' Kristin Henning hit one of two free throws with 4:45 remaining. Douglas followed with one of two charity tosses and then a layup to close the OWU lead to 59-57 with 3:17 remaining.
DePauw's Alison Stephens tied the score at 59-59 and Alex Gasaway's steal on the other end led to a Douglas three-pointer that gave the Tigers a 62-59 lead with 2:05 remaining. Another Gasaway steal led to a Savannah Trees bucket and boosted the Tigers' lead to 64-59 at the 1:22 mark.
The Bishops hit their first field goal in over five minutes when Emily Julius scored with 1:04 left, but couldn't convert the free throw. OWU snagged the miss and LaNiece McRae was fouled with 1:01 left. McRae knocked in both free throws to cut the DePauw lead to 64-63.
The Tigers' Douglas missed a three on the next possession, but Stephens grabbed the offensive board and was fouled with 29 seconds left. She missed the front end of the one-and-one and the Bishops rebounded and called timeout.
After McRae missed a jumper, Dickson rebounded and her putback with 17 seconds remaining gave the hosts the 65-64 lead.
The Tigers called a timeout and got the ball to Trees who scored on a layup with two seconds left, but Gasaway was whistled for an offensive foul away from the ball negating the basket. Following a timeout, the Bishops lobbed a downcourt pass that the Tigers picked off, but a desperation three was off the mark.
Trees led DePauw with 20 points and three assists, while Gasaway followed with 11 and Douglas 10. Stephens paced DePauw with 11 rebounds and Gasaway had six steals.
McRae paced Ohio Wesleyan with 18 points with Julius following with 12. Julia Grimsley and Henning each scored 10 and McRae led with eight rebounds. Sarah McQuade and Henning each handed out four assists.
DePauw shot 38.2 percent for the game and hit just 4-of-20 three-point attempts. Ohio Wesleyan was the second team to shoot over 50 percent against the Tigers this season as it connected on 54 percent from the floor.
Ohio Wesleyan held a 36-34 edge on the boards with DePauw grabbing 20 on the offensive end and converting them into only 14 second-chance points.
DePauw, the Division III leader in fewest turnovers per game, committed just 12 turnovers to the Bishops' 25.