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Still work to do for No. 4 DePauw women
The program's first loss in two years now in the past, as well as a 71-40 win over Wooster to open the NCAC tournament, DePauw women's basketball is back in a familiar position, hosting the NCAC semifinals and finals for the third consecutive year.
The Tigers (25-1, 15-1 NCAC) are 7-0 in the conference tournament since joining the NCAC in 2011. As the top seed each year, all of those games have come on the Tigers' home court, and this weekend will be no different.
Taking the court at Neal Fieldhouse will be No. 2 seed Ohio Wesleyan and No. 3 seed Denison at 6 p.m. on Friday, followed by No. 4 Kenyon and No. 1 DePauw at 8 p.m.
DePauw has had a successful pair of games against Kenyon (16-9, 10-6 NCAC) this season, winning 100-59 on Jan. 11 at Kenyon and 80-47 on Feb. 15 at home.
The Ladies average 71.2 points per game on .442 shooting, while surrendering 66.3 points on .389 shooting. Their rebounds are exactly even on the season, having averaged 37.2 per game while giving up 37.2.
Kenyon all-time leading scorer Maureen Hirt leads the Ladies' offense with 19.2 points per game. She is joined in double figures by Maggie Boelter at 12.5 and Autumn Anderson, who has averaged 10.8 points in just 14 games this season.
Hirt also leads the way with 5.8 rebounds per game.
The Ladies' normally stout defense was anything but against the Tigers, who shot .606 against Kenyon in two matchups, including a .667 (38-57) mark on Jan. 11, the fifth-best Division III performance this season.
The Tigers average 75.3 points per game on .458 shooting, while giving up 50.8 points on .371 shooting. They also outrebound their opponents by nearly 10 per game at 39.2 to 29.9.
Savannah Trees leads the Tigers with 13.7 points per game, followed by Alex Gasaway at 12.0 and Emma Ondik at 10.0. Ali Ross and Hannah Douglas are also part of the balanced Tiger attack, each averaging just more than nine per game.
Alison Stephens crashes the boards for DePauw, averaging 8.5 per game. Ondik leads the Tigers with 2.5 assists per game, and Gasaway has 35 steals.
A lynchpin of the Tigers' success this season has been taking care of the ball. They have committed just 257 turnovers for a 10.3 average, which leads the nation by a full turnover per game.
This was not the case in the Tigers' Tuesday game with Wooster, when they committed 18 turnovers. Coach Kris Huffman said the team needs more consistency, starters and subs included.
"Eighteen turnovers is too many and a lot of that was our last group that was in there had too many turnovers," Huffman said. "We're only as good as our total roster, so we need to keep shoring that up and our ability to pass the basketball and handle the basketball."
The 8 p.m. game will be broadcast live on 91.5 WGRE or online wgre.org. Live video is available at client.stretchinternet.com/client/depauw.portal.
In the early game Friday at Neal Fieldhouse, Ohio Wesleyan (18-8, 12-4 NCAC) and Denison (20-6, 11-5 NCAC) face off with a trip to final on the line. The teams split their regular season contests, with the road team winning each time.
The two semifinal winners will meet at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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