Junior post Karlee Ross converted a 3-point play to tie the game during the first quarter, but second-ranked Transylvania pulled away with a 17-0 run on the way to a 70-55 win over Ohio Wesleyan in the second round of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament on Saturday at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky.
The teams’ respective conference Players of the Year, Transylvania’s Dasia Thornton and Ohio Wesleyan senior guard Kasey Schipfer, opened the game with jumpers on their team’s initial possessions, and Schipfer followed with a lay-in for an early 4-2 Bishop lead.
Kennedi Stacy sank a 3-pointer and Laken Ball hit a pair of free throws to give the Pioneers a 7-4 lead, but Ross converted a 3-point play to knot the game at 7.
After Stacy connected again from long range, Ross answered with a jumper at the midway point of the first quarter to bring Ohio Wesleyan within 10-9.
Transylvania scored the final 15 points of the period, with Sadie Wurth hitting a pair of 3-pointers and a pair of buckets from the lane and Ball adding a 3-pointer. Thornton’s lay-in early in the second quarter gave the Pioneers a 27-9 lead.
Freshman post Macy Miller ended the Bishops’ scoring drought of more than 7 minutes, and Ohio Wesleyan rallied with a 7-0 run later in the quarter, getting a 3-point play and a jumper from junior post Alyssa Griner and a pair of free throws from Miller. When senior point guard Elizabeth Homan connected from downtown with 1:49 left in the half, the Bishops were within 32-23.
Wurth answered with a lay-in to extend the lead back into double digits, and that pattern would repeat twice in the third quarter, with Ohio Wesleyan paring the deficit to 11 points only to see Wurth score on the next possession to give the momentum back to Transylvania, and the Pioneers would keep the lead in double figures throughout the fourth quarter.
Miller led the Bishops with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Schipfer finished with 12 points, Griner scored 11 points, and Homan had a game-best 9 assists.
OWU Sports Information contributed to this report.
