Kaedyn Yonker
Contributing writer
On Friday, Oct. 24, The College of Wooster women’s basketball team traveled to Bowling Green, Ohio, to play an exhibition game against the Bowling Green University (BGSU) Falcons, an NCAA Division I team. In their first game of the season, the Fighting Scots scored 35 points to Bowling Green’s 114. Out of the 17 players who saw gametime, 7 of them were new members of the team.
In the first quarter, Bowling Green came out strong, scoring the first 17 points of the game. This prompted a timeout from Wooster, who then got on the board with a pull-up jumper from Ace Sturdivant ’27. The Falcons would score 3 more points, making the game 19-2, until another pull-up jumper by Emily Webb ’28. BGSU then hit a layup, making it 21-4 with 3:45 left on the clock. A free throw shot by Sturdivant netted the Scots 2 more points leading to the start of a 7-point run by Wooster on their opponent. Sturdivant followed up with another layup, putting 2 more points on the board, making it 21-8. Graysen Redpath ’29 then hit a 3-pointer, finishing the scoring run. Bowling Green recovered, and by the end of the quarter, the score would be 34-11.
In the second quarter, the Falcons grew their lead over the Scots, scoring 25 points on Wooster. Sturdivant managed to hit a 3-pointer off an assist from Ella Dean ’26. However, Bowling Green quickly responded with a layup, increasing their lead over the Scots. As the game continued, Wooster would end up missing a 3-pointer. A good tip-in pushed Bowling Green to 42 points to the Scots’ 14 halfway through the quarter. The Falcons then pushed their score to 43 with a free throw. Shortly after, BGSU would steal the ball and score another layup, making the score 45-14, prompting a timeout from Wooster. Wooster started to gain some momentum as Mackenzie Riccitelli ’28 scored 2 back-to-back free throws. Bowling Green recovered and then scored two 3-pointers, pushing their score over 50. The remainder of the game saw Bowling Green score more points, while Wooster trailed behind. The quarter ended with Wooster at 20, thanks to 4 free throws from Riccitelli and 1 last-second free throw from Sturdivant, while the Falcons ended the half with a score of 59.
At the start of the third quarter, Bowling Green drove their score up higher, getting to 72 points before the Scots could get a point on the board. Eventually, Sturdivant scored a layup with a little more than half of the quarter left. Ayden Rodgers ’29 would manage to hit a good 3-pointer, pushing the Scots to 25 in the last 2 minutes of the quarter. The Falcons continued pushing their score, ending the quarter with 82 points while the Scots had 25.
In the final quarter, Bowling Green continued to expand their lead. However, Wooster utilized this quarter to allow their newcomers a chance to get some playing time. Wooster managed to push their score to 35 thanks to two 3-pointers from Savannah Weiss ’29. Weiss followed her 3-pointers with a free throw. Mya Rivera ’29 had a 3-pointer which got the Scots to the final score of 35 to 114.
This match was a good experience for the Fighting Scots. “It was nice to finally get on the court with the team and play someone other than ourselves. Playing a Division I team was a very good learning experience for us, and we can take some of the things we learned and apply them to the season. No matter what was happening, we stuck together and continued to play hard,” said Riccitelli, the first Scot to be NCAC Newcomer of the Year since 2006.
The Fighting Scots will be traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to play their first official game of the season against the La Roche Redhawks University on Saturday, Nov. 8, with their newly gained experience. Go Scots!