BOX SCORE
WILMINGTON, Ohio – Visiting Capital overcame a 12-point first half deficit to beat Ohio Athletic Conference rival Wilmington, 65-52 in women’s basketball action at Fred Raizk Arena on Thursday night.
The Crusaders improved to 12-4 overall and 9-2 in OAC play with the win in a game that was postponed for 24 hours due to snowy road conditions across the State of Ohio. Wilmington fell to 13-5 overall and 6-5 in conference play.
Senior Daniele Sanna (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North HS) paced Capital with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, which were both team-highs. She made 6-of-13 shots from the floor while adding one assist, one block and one steal in 25 minutes of play.
Classmate Caitlin Elsass (Batavia, Ohio/Cleremont Northeastern HS) followed with 14 points on 6-for-15 shooting from the field while pulling down eight rebounds to go along with two assists and one steal.
Junior Kristen Richardson (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda HS) added nine points while freshman Hilary Kuhns (Fairfield, Ohio/Fairfield HS) scored seven off the bench as Capital made 23-of-57 (.404) shots from the field on the night.
The Crusaders also held a 42-34 advantage in rebounding and an 18-8 lead in points off turnovers after forcing the Quakers into 16 mistakes.
After the teams traded baskets for the opening four minutes of the game, Wilmington took control with a 14-2 run over the next 4:50 to build an 18-6 lead. Kuhns would respond with a jumper and a three-pointer on the next two Crusader possessions, but the Quakers would stretch the lead back to double digits before another run would get CU even closer.
Capital would head into the locker room at the half down by just six following a pair of jumpers by Elsass and five points down the stretch from Abbey Winland. Kortney Kin had eight of her game-high 16 points in the first half, but CU remained close thanks to 10 points from its bench including five from Kuhns in the first 20 minutes of play.
Wilmington opened the second half with the momentum as it pulled ahead by 11 at the 17:51 mark after earning the first two baskets following halftime. The lead would remain in double digits with Capital down 42-30 with 13:41 left when Heather McAlpin would drain a jumper off a feed from Winland to start a Crusader run. CU would go on a 15-1 surge over the next 4:26 behind five points by Sanna, four each from McAlpin and Tara Harper as well as two by Elsass to give Capital a 45-43 lead with 9:15 left.
The Quakers would attempt a comeback as they knotted the score two times in the next four minutes, but Elsass would put the Crusaders ahead for good as she drained a jumper with 4:34 left off a pass by Richardson. The CU senior hit a bucket on the next trip down to the offensive end of the court as well for a 51-48 Capital lead with 3:47 left. Sanna followed with back-to-back buckets of her own and the Crusaders held off a late surge from the Quakers to post a 57-50 road victory.
Capital will return home to play host to John Carroll in OAC action at the Capital Center on Saturday at 3 p.m.