The Ohio Wesleyan women’s basketball team protected the ball with nearly unprecedented proficiency, committing just five turnovers en route to a lopsided 76-34 North Coast Athletic Conference win over visiting Kenyon Wednesday night at Branch Rickey Arena.

The five turnovers tied the school recored set against DePauw on Jan. 18, 2020.

Kenyon (3-20, 1-11 NCAC), meanwhile, turned the ball over 29 times as OWU (18-4, 9-2 NCAC) raced out to a 34-14 halftime lead it parlayed into the convincing win.

The Bishops outscored the Owls 27-8 in the third quarter and 15-12 in the fourth to smooth out the scoring summary.

Lauren Denison led the way with 19 points. Kasey Schipfer and Alyssa Griner were solid, too, closing with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Elizabeth Homan had a game-best 10 assists to go with seven points while Griner added a team-high four steals.

The win, OWU’s fifth straight, coupled with DePauw’s (17-6, 10-2) 68-53 triumph over Denison, leaves the Tigers alone atop the NCAC standings … at least for now.

The Bishops play the first of their three remaining conference contests today at Hiram. Tip is set for 4 p.m.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

The Ohio Wesleyan women’s lacrosse team was predicted to finish third and Denison was selected as the favorite to win the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference championship by the conference women’s lacrosse coaches in their annual preseason poll.

The Big Red received 4 of the 7 first-place votes and 46 points to finish atop the poll. Kenyon received the other 3 first-place votes and placed second with 45 points. Ohio Wesleyan finished third with 31 points, followed by DePauw (25), Wooster (23), Oberlin (18), and Wittenberg (8).

Ohio Wesleyan is scheduled to open the 2024 season on Saturday, Feb. 24, at Allegheny.