No. 10 DePauw women win Midwest Challenge over Rose-Hulman; Tiger men round up Engineers in Terre Haute

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Across two different states, DePauw and Rose-Hulman met on the court Saturday afternoon.

In the women’s game, DePauw fell behind 10-1 to Rose-Hulman in the opening four minutes of the Midwest Challenge championship game, but the 10th-ranked Tigers rallied for a 64-54 victory over the Fightin’ Engineers. The Tigers improved to 6-0, while Rose-Hulman dropped to 2-3.

The day before, DePauw was behind by 10 points against hosts WashU in the third quarter before managing to wrestle the win away from the Bears in the final minutes 66-64.

After DePauw scored the first point of the game, Rose-Hulman put up the next 10 to grab a 9-point lead in the opening 3:37. The Tigers quickly came back with a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 12-11. Rose-Hulman led at the quarter break, 16-13. DePauw evened the score twice in the second and entered the intermission tied, 27-27.

Maeve Summerville hit two free throws in the opening two minutes of the third quarter to give DePauw a lead that it wouldn’t relinquish. The Fightin’ Engineers were within four at 38-34, but the Tigers closed the period on Lydia Stullken’s bucket and a free throw from Ava Hassel to extend the lead to 41-34.

DePauw’s lead was five at 47-42 with 7:25 left before Ainsley Boras knocked in a three. Rose-Hulman countered with a free throw before Stullken hit a jumper and Mya Shannon nailed a trey to push the lead to 55-43 with 5:29 remaining.

The Fightin’ Engineers were as close as seven in the final minute, but Summerville’s 3-point play wrapped up the win.

Shannon paced DePauw with 21 points, while Hassel added 10. Stullken posted career highs with 11 rebounds and six blocked shots and Grace Kinsey handed out six assists.

Jordan Barlow paced Rose-Hulman with 16 points with Rowan Hein scoring 13 and Jamie Baum 10. Rose Burnham hauled down a team-high eight rebounds.

The Tigers shot 38.2 percent from the field to Rose-Hulman’s 33.3 percent and DePauw held a slim, 38-36, edge in rebounds. DePauw committed 13 turnovers to the Fightin’ Engineers’ 16 and held a 15-2 advantage in points off of turnovers.

DePauw returns to North Coast Athletic Conference play on Saturday, Dec. 4, with a 1 p.m. game at Wooster.

Meanwhile, in Terre Haute, a second-half offensive surge by the DePauw Tiger men’s basketball team helped secure its 72-66 road victory over the Rose-Hulman Fightin’ Engineers.

In the first seven-minute of play, DePauw and Rose-Hulman traded baskets; however, at the 12:51 minute mark, the Fightin’ Engineers sparked a four-minute 17 to 5 run over the Tigers.

Despite being down by as much as 12 points, DePauw finished the first half strong, playing aggressive defense, which led to a string of looks at the basket to put the Tigers within five before halftime.

DePauw was outrebounded 18-9 in the first half and shot just 29.4 percent from behind the arc, while the Fightin’ Engineers were shooting 57.1% from the three-point line.

In the second half, the Tigers quickly changed the game’s momentum by finding the bottom of the net first off a quick layup by Elijah Hales, cutting the lead by three.

Much like the opening minutes of the match-up, DePauw and Rose-Hulman went back and forth until Ronald Johnson hit a late three-pointer with just 30 seconds left in the game to give the Tigers a two-possession cushion. The combination of Nolan Niego’s career-high 19 points and Cooper Mixon’s 10 second-half points off the bench kept the Tigers in control throughout the second half.

DePauw completed the night with three double-digit scorers, with 21 of the 37 second-half points from the reserves. The Tigers shot 48.1% from the field while holding Rose-Hulman to 41% from the field and allowed just one three-pointer throughout the second half.

The Tigers improve to 3-2 overall and host Denison University at home on Wednesday, December 1 at Neal Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. EST.