DePauw women second in own tourney; host pair of NCAC games this weekend

Monday, November 27, 2017

Washington University’s Rachael Sondag buried a three from the corner with 1.5 seconds left to give the Bears a 77-75 lead and DePauw’s Claire Keefe hit the rim with her attempt to knot the game at the buzzer and WashU left with a win and the Midwest Challenge title.

Sixth-ranked DePauw slipped to 4-1, while the 19th-ranked Bears improved to 3-1.

In a game that included 15 ties and 17 lead changes, DePauw took a 75-74 advantage on Sydney Kopp’s layup with 10.5 seconds remaining. The Bears’ Becca Clark-Callender took the inbounds pass up the court and found Sondag on the left wing for the eventual game-winner.

DePauw called timeout and inbounded from in front of its bench. Emily Budde lobbed the pass to Keefe on the block of the opposite side of the lane and her shot as the horn sounded bounced off the rim.

The teams played a fast-paced opening quarter with DePauw gaining a 23-20 advantage at the break on Keefe’s trey with three seconds left. The Tigers took that momentum into the second quarter as Melinda Franke, Maya Howard and Keefe each scored on layups and Budde added a 3-pointer to give DePauw a 32-20 advantage. The Bears, however, scored the next 11 to trim the deficit to 32-31. The teams headed to the intermission tied at 41-41.

The early stages of the third were back-and-forth before the Bears scored 10 straight to take a 60-52 lead with 2:17 left in the quarter. WashU hit 10 of 12 from the floor in the period to DePauw’s 6 of 19 and took a 64-56 lead into the final 10 minutes.

In a 1:18 span early in the fourth, Keefe scored a layup and hit a three before Howard knocked down a three to even the count at 64-64. Sondag countered with the first of three treys in the quarter, but DePauw evened the score again on Kylie Morris’ layup and Keefe’s free throw.

The game was at 69 before Keefe nailed two free throws with 2:48 remaining. Sondag’s three with 1:56 left put the Bears ahead 72-71, but Franke’s two charity tosses gave DePauw the lead again at 73-72 with 1:42 left. DePauw was unable to take advantage of a WashU turnover and Stephanie Botkin put the Bears ahead again on a layup with 43 seconds left.

Keefe missed on a jumper in the circle, but grabbed her own rebound and the Tigers called time to set up Kopp’s go-ahead layup.

Keefe led the Tigers with a collegiate-high of 22 points and hit all three 3-point attempts. Howard added 18 points, four assists and three steals, while Budde chipped in 10 points.

Kristina Schmelter came off the bench to score 17 points in 22 minutes for the Bears with Botkin adding 13. Sondage followed with 12, Natalie Orr 11 and Clark-Callender 10 along with six assists.

DePauw shot 41.2 percent for the game to the Bears’ 59.6 percent with WashU hitting 9 of 17 from beyond the arc and the Tigers 6 of 10.

The Tigers outrebounded WashU, 34-25 and held a 17-0 advantage in second-chance points.

DePauw returns to action on Friday when it hosts Hiram at 6 p.m. in the North Coast Athletic Conference opener.

DePauw 55, Rose-Hulman 49 — DePauw trailed Rose-Hulman by as many as five in the opening quarter but outscored Rose-Hulman 18-7 in the third and advanced to the Midwest Challenge championship game.

The Tigers stayed unbeaten at 4-0, while the Engineers dropped to 2-2.

Rose-Hulman got out to an early 14-9 lead in the first and still held a 26-25 halftime edge. Claire Keefe’s three-pointer to start the second half put DePauw in front briefly and the game was still tied 31-31 before Maya Howard hit a bucket and two free throws and Emily Budde added a basket to make it 37-31.

The Engineers’ Chiarra Franklin stopped the run with a layup, but Howard responded with a three-point play and later hit a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 43-33 lead after three periods. Howard scored 13 of DePauw’s 18 points in the stanza.

DePauw expanded the margin to 13 at 48-35 before Rose-Hulman closed to within four at 51-47 with 28 seconds remaining. Howard hit all four free throws she attempted down the stretch to preserve the win.

Howard led all scorers with 23 including 19 in the second half, while Keefe finished with 13. Ally Bromenschenkel paced Rose-Hulman with 16 points and Franklin added 10.

DePauw shot 31.9 percent from the floor to Rose-Hulman’s 35.2, but the Tigers outscored the Engineers from the line, 21-9.

The Tigers held a narrow 34-33 rebounding advantage as Kylie Morris hauled down six. Bromenschenkel totaled nine.

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