DePauw women clinch NCAC regular-season title

Tenth-ranked DePauw University never trailed on the way to a 60-46 North Coast Athletic Conference victory over Denison which gave the Tigers the outright NCAC regular season title.

DePauw improved to 22-1 overall and 14-0 in the NCAC with its 19th straight win, while the Big Red dropped to 11-12 overall and 8-6 in the conference.

The Tigers scored eight straight in a first-quarter stretch that lifted them to a 14-9 lead at the quarter break. Denison was within two at 22-20 with 3:41 left in the second, but Blair Carlin nailed a three with 1:40 remaining and Maya Howard scored a layup on the next possession to give DePauw a 27-20 advantage at the intermission.

They carried that momentum into the third as Claire Ryan and Howard each scored layups before Sydney Kopp nailed a three to make it 34-20 just 2:04 into the quarter. DePauw extended the margin to as much as 19 at 41-22 on Howard’s layup with 3:47 remaining in the period and the Tigers took a 44-29 lead into the final stanza.

Denison trimmed the lead to 50-44 after Jordan Holmes’ layup with 3:21 left, but Howard’s three-point play and jumper on consecutive possessions pushed it back to 55-44 with 1:56 remaining.

Howard led all scorers with a season-high 23 which was just one shy of her career high, while Sydney Kopp followed with 17. Melinda Franke hauled down seven rebounds as DePauw held a 33-28 edge on the boards.

DePauw shot 42.6 percent from the field to Denison’s 34.7 percent.

The Tigers travel to Kenyon on Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.

Men

• Tigers fall to Denison — DePauw led after the first 20 minutes of action but could not hold on in a 70-62 loss to No. 23 Denison on Wednesday.

It was not a good start for DePauw, falling behind 7-0 in the opening three minutes.

However, the Tigers never let Denison’s lead reach double figures, and a Luke Lattner 3-pointer as time expired gave the Tigers a 34-32 lead at halftime.

That lead was gone in under two minutes into the second half as Matthew Bauer hit two of his game-high six 3-pointers in a 1:06 span to give the Big Red a 38-36 lead. Lattner then put DePauw back up front 42-41 at 15:14, but that would be the last time they would hold the advantage.

Bauer led all scorers and finished with a double-double at 20 points and 11 rebound. Lattner led DePauw with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.

DePauw was outrebounded 42-31 and 14-9 on the offensive glass. The Tigers shot 38 percent (22-of-58), 29 percent from range (8-of-28) and 63 percent (10-of-16) from the foul line. Denison countered with 40 percent shooting, 38 percent from beyond the arc and 73 percent at the charity stripe.

The Tigers dropped to 9-13 overall and 5-10 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Denison improves to 18-4 overall and 12-3 in the NCAC.

DePauw travels to Kenyon on Saturday.