COLUMBUS, Ohio - Capital University's women's basketball team rallied from an 11-point first half deficit and defeated Baldwin-Wallace College 53-41 Saturday at The Capital Center in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game, clinching an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The OAC Tournament title is the ninth for the Crusaders (22-5), who won their last one in 2006, also defeating Baldwin-Wallace. The Crusaders will find out Monday whom they will play in the NCAA Tournament.
The Yellow Jackets (21-7) started the game on a 13-2 run over the opening four minutes. Still trailing 19-8, Daniele Sanna (Pickerington, Ohio/North HS) started a 9-1 Capital surge with a jumper as the Crusaders cut the deficit to 20-17 with four and a half minutes to play.
Senior guard Katy Lafferty (Batavia, Ohio/Clermont Northeastern) hit a three-pointer and sophomore guard Tara Harper (Dresden, Ohio/Tri-Valley HS) connected on a pair of free throws to tie the game at 22, but the Yellow Jackets sank a pair of free throws before half to take a 24-22 lead.
Capital took control early in the second half with a 13-2 run. Sanna hit two free throws to give Capital its first lead at 28-27 at the 16:14 mark and Lafferty hit her second three-pointer to push the lead to 33-27 two minutes later. Harper and senior forward Caitlin Elsass (Batavia, Ohio/Clermont Northeastern) each hit buckets as Capital extended its lead to 37-27 midway through the half.
The Crusaders pushed the lead to 12 points as senior guard Heather McAlpin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain HS) hit a three-pointer with just under eight minutes to play, but the Yellow Jackets answered with six straight points to cut the lead to 43-37 at the 6:05 mark.
Sanna and McAlpin each scored, though, to rebuild the lead to 10 points, and B-W would get no closer than eight points in the final four minutes of play.
Sanna, the OAC Tournament MVP, notched team-highs in both points (11) and rebounds (eight), while Elsass, McAlpin and Richardson each scored nine points and Lafferty chipped in with eight. McAlpin also hauled down seven rebounds, had four assists and blocked two shots.
After shooting just 27.6 percent in the first half, Capital hit 9-of-20 (45 percent) from the field in the second half while knocking down 11-of-15 (73.3 percent) of its free throw attempts.
The Crusaders limited B-W to just 6-of-32 (18.8 percent) shooting from the field in the second half, as the Yellow Jackets misfired on 15 shots in a row during one stretch of the half.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Tiffany Youel, Muskingum
Kourtney Kin, Wilmington
Amanda Schroeder, Baldwin-Wallace
Caitlin Elsass, Capital
Heather McAlpin, Capital
Daniele Sanna, Capital - Tournament MVP