BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio- Led by a ball hawking defense, the Capital University women’s basketball team upended visiting Ohio Northern University 69-46.
The win, coupled with a Baldwin-Wallace loss, placed the Crusaders (16-5) in the driver’s seat in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 13-3 league record. Capital now needs to win either of their final home games (against Heidelberg on Wednesday or Otterbein on Saturday) to clinch the OAC Regular Season Title and the top seed in the OAC Tournament. Capital also evened the season series with Ohio Northern (8-15, 6-10 in the OAC), avenging their 60-59 loss to the Polar Bears on January 10.
“We played very well as a unit. Defensively, in the second half, our intensity was raised to another level,” said head coach Dixie Jeffers, who won her 499th game as head coach at Capital. “We shot great tonight, and got a big boost from our bench, which is huge to have working in your favor come tournament time.”
The Crusaders used an 18-4 run to take a 33-29 halftime lead while allowing the Polar Bears to connect on 13-of-22 (.591) shots from the field.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half, and we heard about it in the locker room,” said junior Kristen Richardson (Oxford, Ohio/ Talawanda HS), who shared the team lead with 16 points overall on 7-of-13 shooting. “The team came out with more energy in the second half and focused on rebounding and getting the loose balls.”
Capital’s new found focus led to a 23-7 run over a span of 10:26 in the second half. When the dust settled, the Crusaders had pulled away at 58-39 with 6:51 to go in the contest.
Key for CU in the run was its defensive effort as Capital forced Ohio Northern into nine second-half turnovers and 23 overall on the afternoon. The Crusaders turned those mistakes into a 27-4 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Crusader bench played a significant role during Capital’s second half surge. Senior Katy Lafferty (Batavia, Ohio/ Clermont Northeastern HS) led Capital’s reserves with nine points and paced the team with two three-point conversions.
“My teammates gave me great looks, which allowed me to get some open shots,” said Lafferty, who scored all of her points in the second half. “We knew we had to push the ball to be successful tonight. We have two games left, and we’re looking to win the OAC.”
Another key to the second half turnaround was the stalwart performance of the Crusader defense. The unit kept the Polar Bears’ offense in hibernation, limiting Ohio Northern to a 26.3 percent shooting percentage in the second half (on five-for-19 shooting). Capital’s defense forced 23 turnovers, which contributed to the Crusaders’ 27 points off Polar Bear miscues.
The trio of Richardson and seniors Caitlin Elsass (Batavia, Ohio/Clermont Northeastern HS) and Daniele Sanna (Pickerington, Ohio/ Pickerington North HS) combined to score two-thirds of Capital’s points. Elsass scored 16 points and hauled down a game-high seven rebounds, and Sanna tallied 14 points on seven-of-12 shooting.
Senior reserve Heather McAlpin (Cincinnati, Ohio/ Colerain HS) also turned in a solid performance with seven points and a game-high six assists.
Capital will now travel to play at Wittenberg University on February 16 in a non conference match up. The team will then head home for its final two regular season games in hopes of clinching the ninth-OAC Title in program history.
“Our goal for the last two games is to put ourselves in position to win the league host the conference tournament,” Richardson said. “We are undefeated at home this season, and we’d like to use that to our advantage in the post season.”