Women’s Basketball
Three Baldwin Wallace University women’s basketball players scored in double figures as the Yellow Jackets defeated Heidelberg University, 92-60, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center on Wednesday, Feb 19.
BW has won 24 straight games against Heidelberg (11-13, 4-13 OAC) dating back to January 20, 2004 when the Student Princes won 82-64 in Tiffin. The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series, 54-22.
BW was led by senior center Lexi Rohrbach as she recorded her eighth career double-double with 15 points and a career and game-high 14 rebounds. Junior All-OAC guard Audrey Smolik also scored 15 points and sophomore forward Alissa Munro tallied 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior three-time All-OAC forward Jessica Lairson rounded out the double figures with 11 points and seven rebounds. The Yellow Jackets out-rebounded Heidelberg 54-33. The Student Princes were led by senior forward Molly Schriber with 12 points and senior guard Kathleen Philips added 11.
Heidelberg opened the game on a 6-0 run and took an early 10-2 lead on a jumper by senior Kathleen Philips with 16:39 left. BW answered back with an 8-2 run to cut the lead down to 12-10 when Lairson split a pair from the charity stripe at the 13:24 mark.
The Yellow Jackets would use a 13-10 run and take its first lead of the game at 23-20 on a three-pointer by junior guard Shari Mangas with 7:28 remaining. BW went on an 11-4 run and took a 10-point lead at 34-24 on a layup by Munro at the 3:42 mark. The Yellow Jackets closed out the half on an 8-2 run to lead 42-26 at the intermission.
The Student Princes opened the second half on a 10-2 run to cut the lead down to 44-36 when junior guard Paige Ricketts knocked down a triple with 16:28 left. Heidelberg would come no closer and BW pushed its lead to as many as 32 points at 92-60 on a jumper by sophomore forward Marissa Hellisz at the 10 second mark.
On Saturday, February 22, the women’s basketball team ended its regular season and clinched a share of its eighth Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title as it defeated Muskingum University, 87-51, in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. This was the seventh straight win for the Yellow Jackets
BW (20-5, 15-3 OAC), who has now won nine straight games versus Muskingum, shares the OAC regular season title with cross-town rival John Carroll University for the first since the 2007-08 season. The Yellow Jackets swept the season series with the Blue Streaks and earned the top seed and a pair of byes in next week’s OAC Tournament.
BW was led by Mangas who scored a game-high tying 14 points. Smolik and Lairson each contributed 12.
Muskingum (7-17, 5-13 OAC) was led by freshman forward Jasmine Goings with a game-high tying 14 points and senior guard Gabbi Davis tallied 12.
After Smolik split a pair of free throws to open the game, the Fighting Muskies responded with a 6-0 run to take a 6-1 lead on a jumper by Davis with 16:44 left. The Yellow Jackets answered back with a 6-2 run to cut the lead down to 8-7 on a three-pointer by freshman guard Sydney Clark at 13:33.
BW regained the lead at 11-10 on a jumper by Smolik in the paint with 11:17 remaining. The Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 run and pushed their lead to 16-10 on a traditional three-point play by sophomore center Sam Hamar at the 8:24 mark.
The Yellow Jackets would outscore Muskingum 19-14 over the remainder off the half but Davis hit a three-pointer for Muskingum as time expired to trail 35-24 at the intermission.
BW opened the second half on a 7-1 run to extend its lead to 42-25 on a three-pointer by Mangas with 17:49 remaining. The Fighting Muskies responded with a 5-0 run to cut the lead down to 42-30 on a traditional three-point play by Goings at 17:08
BW put the game away when they went on a 26-8 run to take a 68-38 lead on a three-point by Munro with 9:11 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets will host an OAC Tournament semifinal game against an opponent to be determined on Thursday, February 27 in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the two semifinal games will meet in the OAC Championship on Saturday, March 1 at the highest remaining seed with tip scheduled for 3 p.m.
Tennis
The Baldwin Wallace University men’s tennis team defeated host Defiance College, 7-2, inside the Smart Center in the first of two matches on Saturday, February 22.
The Yellow Jackets, 4-0 overall, led 3-0 after doubles play as the number one tandem of sophomores Peter Harris and Doug Ganim, the No. 2 duo of senior Brad Minrovic and junior Kyle Patterson and the No.3 tandem of sophomore Kevin Fredrick and senior Zach Elbin all won.
In singles action, Patterson won at No. 1 by scores of 6-0 and 6-0, Harris won at No. 2 with scores of 6-1 and 6-0, Ganim won at No.3 by the scores of 6-3 and 7-6 (8-6), Katz won at No. 5 by the scores of 6-1 and 6-1, Jake Liebler won at No. 6 with scores of 6-0 and 6-0.
The BW men are back in action next Saturday, March 1 when they host Penn State Behrend University at 4:30 p.m. at the North Ridge Racquet Club in Northb Ridgeville, Ohio. This is a rescheduled match from February 15. The Yellow Jackets then travel to Hilton Head, South Carolina on their annual Spring Break Trip from March 9-15.
Swimming
A select group of four Baldwin Wallace University men’s and women’s swimmers and divers competed at the annual Kenyon College “Last Chance” Meet on Saturday, February 22. This is one of two final opportunities for NCAA Division III swimmers and divers to qualify for the 2014 NCAA Division III National Championship Meet from March 19-22.
Sophomore Chandler Ashbaugh placed second in the 100-yard freestyle finishing in a time of 55.90 seconds. Ashbaugh also swam in the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle with times of 25.38 and 1:02.45, respectively.
The men were led by sophomore Nathan Onchuck who placed fifth in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 51.97 seconds. Onchuck also swam in the 100-yard butterfly recording a time of 57.98.
Also, freshman Jacob Burk and sophomore Justin Allison also placed in the finals. Burk swam the 500-yard freestyle and touched the wall at the 4:57.11 mark. Allison recorded a time of 21.85 in the 50-yard freestyle and a 1:00.54 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Track & Field
Select members of the Baldwin Wallace University men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams competed at the annual Kent State University Open Meet on Saturday, February 22. The meet was unscored.
The BW women were led by senior distance-runner Brooke Hradisky who placed third in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:17.61.
Sophomore multi-events athlete Melanie Winters placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 9.02 seconds. Sophomore thrower Kim Gallavan placed seventh throwing a season-best distance of 42’0.75”.
The Yellow Jacket men were led by senior sprinter Kevin Johnson as he finished seventh in the 60-meter dash in a time of 6.93 seconds. Johnson also took 16th place in the 200-meter dash in a school-record time of 22.40 seconds.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on this weekend when they travel to Alliance to compete at the 2014 OAC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
