Julie Kendall
Sports Editor
The Wooster women’s basketball team finished up their season last week with two conference losses to Allegheny College and DePauw University, falling by a margin of 22 and 20 points respectively in each competition. The Fighting Scots completed their season with a 3-21 overall record, going 2-14 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
Allegheny topped Wooster last Wednesday night in a 69-47 match where the Gators dominated on both sides of the ball. Despite a strong offensive start that put the Scots in an early 16-11 lead, the Gators put together a 15-0 run that pushed Wooster into a ten-point deficit within six minutes of play.
The half ended with a score of 35-22 in favor of Allegheny. The Gators extended their lead early in the second half, and continued to rack up points with an 11-4 run that left the Scots trailing. Wooster committed 24 turnovers in the game and were held to just 30 percent shooting by the Allegheny defense.
A bright spot for the Scots’ offense was Samantha Sulzer ’12, who scored a career-high 22 points. Sulzer went 9-of-18 on field goals, 4-of-7 on free throws, and also recorded a team-high eight rebounds. Her status as the Scots’ leading scorer in the game was followed by Sarah Abboud ’12 who made three three-pointers, and Jessica Wingen ’13 who earned eight points.
The team then suffered its ninth loss in a row at its season finale on Saturday against DePauw, despite showing a remarkable defensive effort against the division’s fourth-ranked team. The Scots proved to be a tough opponent for the Tigers, holding them to their lowest point total against any NCAC opponent this season and their second-lowest of the entire season. In the low-scoring matchup, DePauw experienced their worst field goal percentage of the season, but still managed to come away with the win against a distressed Scots team.
The Scots struggled offensively in the first half, falling behind 14-5 in the first eight minutes of play. In spite of the efforts of lead first-half scorer Karley Walker ’14 (five points), the period ended with the Scots trailing 22-11.
The second half saw DePauw pull further away from the home team, despite a tough effort by the Wooster defense. Late in the game, Wooster was able to hold the Tigers during a six-minute period with no score, but failed to generate enough points of their own.
Wingen was the most prolific scorer for the Scots, with a total nine points. She also led the team with six rebounds.
The women’s team finished at the bottom of the NCAC standings, having only triumphed over conference opponents Hiram and Oberlin back in January. They are ranked last overall in both offensive and defensive statistics.
The team will look to improve next year with a more experienced team. They will be losing only two seniors from their current roster, and will benefit from a large slate of rising upperclassmen.