DePauw women win tough one, stay undefeated

GRANVILLE, Ohio -- Top-ranked DePauw survived another tough road test Wednesday as it moved to 19-0 overall and 10-0 in North Coast Athletic Conference play with a 61-51 win at Denison. The Big Red dropped to 14-5 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

Denison scored the game's first six points and grabbed a 14-7 lead with 10:24 left in the half. Emma Ondik responded with a three before Alex Gasaway and Ali Ross hit jumpers to knot the score at 14-14 at the 8:21 mark.

Denison regained the lead and held it until Savannah Trees hit two free throws and knocked in a jumper to put DePauw ahead, 22-21. Ross added a basket with just 20 seconds left to send the Tigers to the break with a 24-21 lead.

DePauw briefly led by five as Gasaway scored on the Tigers' first possession of the second half, but the Big Red tied it on two more occasions with the last coming at 29-29.

Trees hit two more free throws and Ross scored on a layup to give DePauw its biggest lead, 33-29, with 15:14 remaining.

The hosts closed it back to 35-34 before DePauw gradually stretched the advantage to as many as eight after Ondik nailed a three to make it 45-37 with 9:51 left.

Denison twice narrowed the margin to five points, but DePauw held the Big Red scoreless for four minutes while scoring six capped by Ali Ross' three with 1:21 left that gave DePauw a 54-43 lead.

Gasaway paced DePauw with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Trees added 15 points. Ross and Ondik followed with 10 apiece.

Candise Love led Denison with 12 points, while Jordan Holmes nearly posted a triple double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

The Tigers shot just 36.5 percent from the field to Denison's 36.7, but DePauw outscored the Big Red at the free throw line, 20-4.

DePauw held a 39-34 rebounding edge and committed just eight turnovers. The Tigers entered the week as the nation's leader in fewest turnovers per game with 9.8.

The win was DePauw's 53rd straight which is the third longest in NCAA Division III history and sixth on all levels of NCAA women's basketball. It also was the Tigers' 72 consecutive regular season victory and 50th straight conference win.

DePauw returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 1, when it travels to Oberlin for a 1 p.m. contest.