Andrea Anderson hit one of Wilmington's nine 3-pointers as the Lady Quakers topped Otterbein. (John Swartzel photo)
WESTERVILLE — Claire Brown scored season-high 19 points as Wilmington College topped Otterbein, 76-63, in Ohio Athletic Conference action Wednesday night.
The win is the third straight for the Lady Quakers, who are now 7-6 in the OAC, 11-9 overall. Otterbein drops to 5-8 in the conference, 8-12 for the season.
“Otterbein is a good team. Their record doesn’t show that, but they’ve beaten good teams,” Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve said. “They beat Mount Union at Mount Union. They are very athletic and a good transition team. I was very happy with the win.”
Wilmington crawled off the starting line as Otterbein raced to a 13-6 lead in the opening five minutes.
“We got off to a slow start. We just weren’t getting after it and we took some bad shots, but after the first four or five minutes, we started playing hard and playing well,” Scheve said.
The Lady Quakers worked their way back into the affair and tied the score at 26 when Emily Zimmerman (Beavercreek) hit a 3-pointer at 4:12. At the half, Wilmington led, 33-30.
Brown (Batavia/Glen Este) scored eight straight points during a crucial stretch in the second half as Wilmington surged ahead, 57-49, with 8:49 to play.
“The key for us tonight was not only Claire hitting her shots, but all of our wings were making shots. Allie Meranda, Andrea Anderson and Emily Zimmerman all made big shots at key times and gave us solid play. When they do that, we create balance where can go inside our outside. That’s when we can play well as a team,” Scheve said.
Otterbein cut the deficit to four, but the Lady Quakers slammed the door with an 8-0 run. The lead reached as many as 17 when Marianne McGoron (Hamilton/Fenwick) drilled two free throws with 1:34 to play.
“We played a very good second half. We defended well and made shots. That’s a good combination,” Scheve said.
Brown hit 7 of 10 shots from the field and 4 for 6 from 3-point country. Meranda (Georgetown) connected on all four of her shots from the field, two of which came from downtown, to finish with 11 points.
McGoron scored nine points and handed out seven assists. Kortney Kin (Upper Sandusky/Riverdale) added nine points and five rebounds. Olivia Waters (Cincinnati/Purcell Marian) collected 10 rebounds to go with five points.
The Lady Quakers committed 12 turnovers, 19 fewer than the total from their 66-60 win over No. 22 Mount Union on Jan. 30.
“We told them that we beat a good team with 31 turnovers and to just think what we could do if we turned it over like a normal team. That’s what we did tonight, and we were able to get a good win,” Scheve said.
Wilmington will host John Carroll 3 p.m. Saturday.