DePauw rides out hot Denison start, reaches NCAC Women's Basketball final

DePauw's Ava Hassel helped seal a spot in the NCAC Women's Basketball Tournament Finals with three late free throws, part of a 21-point, six rebound, six assist night for the Tigers in a 76-69 win over Denison. The Tigers face Ohio Wesleyan in the final Saturday at 4 p.m.

Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

Ava Hassel put in 21 points, six assists and six rebounds in Friday evening’s game against Denison as DePauw (20-7) prevailed against a hard-fighting Big Red (20-7) 76-69 and progressed to the championship game of the NCAC Women’s Basketball Tournament.

The Tigers entered Friday’s semifinal contest with three home wins on the spin, their last win being the quarter-final win over Wooster on Tuesday 83-47, so the Tiger entered this match with a lot of confidence and a huge crowd in the DePauw community behind them.

After the historic match, Coach Kris Huffman spoke on her initial reactions to a tough, last-gasp match.

“Man, what a hard-fought game. We knew it would be. This conference has been loaded all season long and five teams that could have won the conference title, so we’re happy to be playing on Saturday to have a chance to represent the conference and move on against a really, really tough Ohio Wesleyan team,” Huffman said.

The team initially was losing in the first quarter 28-19, but came back to make the game 38-33 at the half and from there didn’t let the lead go.

Hassel started the game brightly with two threes and a Lily Huntzinger jumper gave DePauw an early 8-2 lead.

Brooke Toigo hit two threes in reply and tied the game at 14-14 with a basket before Ada Taute gave the Big Red the lead with a three-point play. A 9-3 close for Denison allowed the visitors to take a 28-19 lead after the first quarter.

The Tigers slowly began to chip away at the lead from the free throw line as Riley Mont, Moira McGinley hit six-straight free throws to help tie the game at 31-31 before Mont hit a three to take a 34-31 lead.

McGinley added a late three to boost the DePauw lead to five at halftime.

Coach Huffman spoke to the struggles in the first half and spoke to what was different in the second half and what changed, so the team could be successful and ultimately win.

“(Denison) had a heck of a first quarter, so they were a buzz saw and we struggled to slow them down. I thought we made some adjustments in the second quarter. We played a little bit more zone, slowed them down a little bit, or their shots bounced out,” Huffman said.

“We were able to have a nice second quarter and get the game tied up in the second half. We had some players step up, whether it be an important bucket when we needed it, or a big rebound when we needed it.”

DePauw scored the first six points out of halftime with Hassel hitting two free throws and a jumper while Mont added a pair from the line to stretch the lead to 11.

Denison scored eight-straight in reply with Toigo scoring four, Taute adding a basket and Abigail Westmeyer scoring off a steal to shrink the lead to 44-41.

Taute answered a Diana Burgher three with one of her own as the Tigers were able to hang on to the lead by quarter’s end at 53-52.

Huntzinger and Burgher hit threes early in the fourth quarter to give DePauw some breathing space and Hassel closed the game with a jumper and hitting 3-of-4 at the line in the final seconds to secure the Tigers passage to the conference final.

There are many players that contributed to the win; one that stood out was senior point guard Hassel, who had an incredible individual performance.

Huffman highlighted how she helped the team get the result.

“(Ava) read the defense really well, so she had some opportunities to get to the rim and we ran some success actions for her to do that,” Huffman said. “She made some great decisions of moving the basketball when we needed to. We like the ball in her hands because she typically makes great decisions, whether that’s getting her own shot or getting a shot for someone else.”

Hassel also spoke on her overall performance and how it was really a team effort to get the win.

“I think that whenever we’re in big games, everyone steps up, whether we need a bucket or we need a big stop,” Hassel said. “It was a great team win. I just kind of let the shots come to me. I just want to see how it felt toward the beginning of the game, so I let a couple fly and they felt good.

“I also tried to get to the free throw line as much as I could, so that definitely helped. Everyone steps up, and I think different people stepped up at different moments, which is awesome to see.”

Hassel ended by saying that the final tomorrow will be a challenging game, but she’s willing to accept the challenge and that if the team sticks together and plays like they played today, they’ll get the win.

“It’s a big, huge game and Ohio Wesleyan won’t back down, but we aren’t either. If we have an atmosphere like tonight, we hit shots, we stay together and we play some good defense, we will be fine.

“It’s gonna be a challenge, I’m willing to accept that challenge.”

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