BOX SCORE
BEREA, Ohio – Visiting Capital rallied from a 15-point second half deficit to pull within one basket in the final two minutes of play, but it was not enough as the Crusaders lost to Baldwin-Wallace, 68-61 in Ohio Athletic Conference women’s basketball action on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the loss, Capital remains in first place in the OAC standings at 11-4 overall and 8-2 in conference play. Baldwin-Wallace, which overcame a 51-42 loss to CU earlier this season, improved to 12-5 overall and 7-3 in OAC action.
Three Crusaders reached double figures in scoring led by a 17-point effort from senior Daniele Sanna (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North HS). Sanna made 5-of-6 free throw attempts while also collecting six rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block.
Senior Caitlin Elsass (Batavia, Ohio/Clermont Northeastern HS) and junior Kristen Richardson (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda HS) followed with 15 points each. Elsass finished with six rebounds and three assists of her own while Richardson added four assists, three rebounds and three steals.
Sophomore Tara Harper (Dresden, Ohio/Tri-Valley HS) came off the bench to pull down six rebounds while scoring three points, but it was not enough to overcome a career-high 23 points from B-W’s Amanda Schroeder.
Although Capital held a 36-28 advantage with points in the paint, it could not make up for a 18-12 Yellow Jacket lead in points off turnovers and a 45.3 percent shooting effort by homestanding B-W. In contrast, CU shot 40.4 percent from the floor overall.
Baldwin-Wallace opened quickly with an 8-0 run in the first 3:30 of the game, but Capital would keep the deficit in single digits until Nancy Coulter hit a layup with 3:24 left in the first half. Richardson went to the free throw line on the next possession and hit two shots, but the Yellow Jackets would stretch their lead to 13 at the break.
Overall, Capital made just 9-of-29 shots from the floor while committing seven turnovers in the first half. Richardson tried to keep things close with eight points, but Schroeder had eight of her own for the home team.
After a pair of Baldwin-Wallace free throws at the start of the second half made it a 15-point affair, Capital slowly began swatting away at the Yellow Jacket advantage. Just seven minutes into the second half, CU brought the game back into single digits with a pair of free throws by Hilary Kuhns. Those shots started a 6-0 CU surge over the next 1:50 that included layups by Heather McAlpin and Kuhns to turn it into a 48-43 deficit for the Crusaders with 11:11 left.
From there, B-W would rebound to build another 15-point lead before CU would make one final run as the Yellow Jackets. Sanna hit a pair of free throws to start the rally at the 7:30 mark followed by another two each from the charity stripe by Elsass and Richardson. Elsass would then hit a layup with 5:09 left and Richardson drained another two free throws with 4:52 remaining as Capital used a 12-0 run over a span of 2:38 to make it a one-possession game at 58-55.
Baldwin-Wallace rallied to build another seven-point lead before Capital responded to pull the contest within three at the 1:43 mark on layups by Sanna and Elsass, but it was not enough as Schroeder would hit 6-of-6 free throw attempts in the final 74 seconds to send Capital to its second OAC loss of the season.
Capital will close out a six-game OAC road stretch with a visit to Wilmington on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.