Lady Tigers take win against Hiram 75-38

Savannah Trees scored 13 of her game-high 22 points in the second half, leading the No. 7/8 DePauw women's basketball team to a 75-38 victory in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, Tuesday night at Neal Fieldhouse.

The Tigers improved to 24-1 on the year, while Hiram ended its season with a 7-19 overall record. DePauw will now host the NCAC semifinals on Friday, February 24. The Tigers will face Ohio Wesleyan at 8:00 p.m. following the Wittenberg vs. Denison game, starting at 6:00 p.m. on Friday.

Neither team started the contest with any offensive momentum. Trees netted the first points of the contest at the 19:52 mark, but both teams went scoreless for the next three minutes. The Tigers finally reached double-digits on Hannah Gardner's layup with 14:06 left in the half.

DePauw used a 15-2 run to stretch the lead to 21-8 by the 8:12 mark in the half. Hiram would battle back and enter the locker room trailing 28-20.

Poor shooting plagued both squads as DePauw shot just 36.4 percent (12-of-33) from the floor and held the Terriers to 32.0 percent (8-of-25) shooting.

In the second-half, the Tigers began to find their offensive rhythm, quickly jumping out to a 20-point advantage. Hannah Douglas netted a three-point play to put DePauw up 44-24 with 15:56 remaining. From there the Tigers never looked back, leading by as much as 40 before cruising to a 75-38 victory.

Ten different Tigers scored in the second-half paced by Trees with 13 points and Lauren Abendroth with 11 points. DePauw forced 12 turnovers in the half and totaled 23 in the contest, converting those turnovers into 19 points.

The Tigers shot 41.2 percent (28-of-68) from the floor, including a 6-of-18 (33.3%) mark from three and a 13-for-19 (68.4%) clip from the charity stripe. Trees added four assists to her 21 points, while Abendroth grabbed five rebounds to go with 11 points. Douglas netted eight points, four assists and three blocks, while Morgan Skordos had a team-high six rebounds with two steals.

Hiram shot just 28.0 percent (14-of-50) from the floor, going 2-for-17 (11.8%) from three. Brianne Goodrich paced the Terriers with 10 points, while Kaylee Shockley added seven points and Sierra Day grabbed six rebounds.

DePauw held a 47-30 rebounding advantage and outscored Hiram 31-17 on bench points. The Tigers won the battle in the paint 34-22 and totaled 19 fast-break points.