WILMINGTON — The Wilmington College Lady Quakers got back on track Wednesday night with a 65-57 home victory over the Muskingum Muskies thanks to a balanced offensive attack that saw three players in double figures, including Zahrya Bailey scoring a career-high 20 points.
T he Lady Quakers break a two-game OAC skid to jump to 9-5 overall and 3-4 in conference play. They travel to John Carroll University Saturday afternoon for a bout with the 8-6 Blue Streaks, who now stand at 3-4 in conference play after a loss to Otterbein.
Muskingum drops its fourth straight game and fall to 4-10 overall, 1-6 in the OAC. They will be hosted by the 13-1, 7-0 Ohio Northern Polar Bears, who gave Baldwin Wallace its first loss of the season with a buzzer-beating layup to stand alone on top of the conference.
Wilmington came out of the 30-30 half scorching hot and put up a 19-4 run. They avoided putting MU away and subsequently allowed a 10-0 run over the last 2:05 of the third quarter that brought the Muskies right back into the ball game. The Quakers entered the fourth with a 49-44 lead.
The final frame was a straightforward affair for Quakers, as they protected the lead for the last 10 minutes with satisfactory shot-making and proficient defense. Bailey scored a breakaway layup with less than two minutes remaining to go up six. She scored seven in the period and 13 in the half.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They passed the ball well, shared the ball, and as long as I have my teammates out there, I can make that possible,” Bailey said.
Bailey scored 12 of her 20 from the foul line on only 13 shots. She drew a game-high seven fouls and went 4-6 from the field.
“I thought we were able to find Z[ahrya Bailey] in the right spots, and if she didn’t get the shot, she obviously got fouled tonight, getting to the free throw line 13 times,” said WC head coach Janel Blankespoor.
WC’s 8-14 free-throw shooting in the fourth and 20-28 for the night was a key component to getting the victory.
“Coach always tells us, whenever we go to the free throw line, to be confident and think that we’re going to make it. That’s what was going through my head when I went to the line, and it worked,” Bailey, a senior, said.
Said Blankespoor, “I expect them to make [20-28]. I actually am disappointed we missed eight free throws to be honest. I think we should be shooting close to 80 percent. And at the end there we obviously missed four when they were intentionally fouling. [Bailey] has been a very good free throw shooter for most of her career and I expect her, when she goes up, to knock them down.”
The first half was a back-and-forth deadlock that featured eight lead changes and left the score 30-30. Jada Pohlen scored 15 of her 17 in the first half, including 10 in in the first quarter after sinking her first three field goals — two of which were from three-point range.
“The second half defense, I will say, we did a much better job. We knew going into the game they want to draw you out and kick, and we were helping way too much, so they were getting their wide-open shots. And then we were scrambling around and not doing the right thing. In the second half we buckled down better, kept people in front of us and were stunting instead of giving complete help, like we did in the first half,” Blankespoor said.
SUMMARY
Jan 11, 2023
@Fred Raizk Arena
Wilmington 65, Muskingum 57
(57) MUSKINGUM (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Morehead 1-0-2-4 Harrington 7-3-3-20 Allen 3-1-3-10 T. DeMassimo 3-3-1-10 Lippiatt 0-0-1-1 C. DeMassimo 3-1-3-10 Jones 0-0-0-0 Hivick 0-0-0-0 Boeing 1-0-0-2 Bicking 0-0-0-0 Key 0-0-0-0 Tully 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 18-8-13/19-57
(65) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Seiler 5-0-0-10 Stover 2-0-0-4 Lewis 2-0-5-9 Pohlen 6-2-3-17 Lovett 1-0-0-2 Bailey 4-0-12-20 Walker 1-1-0-3 Carpenter 0-0-0-0 Lotz 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 21-3-20/28-65
FIELD GOALS: M (18-53); WC (21-51) Pohlen 6-12, Seiler 5-10 Bailey 4-6
3 PT FIELD GOALS: M (8-25); WC (3-11) Pohlen 2-3
FREE THROWS: M (13-19); WC (20-28) Bailey 12-13
REBOUNDS: M-31; W-37 (Seiler 8 Lewis 8 Lovett 4 Bailey 4 Lotz 3)
ASSISTS: M-11; W-14 (Lewis 5, Seiler 3 Pohlen 3, Bailey 2)
STEALS: M-9; W-8 (Lewis 2, Pohlen 2, Bailey 2)
BLOCKS: M-4; W-3 (Pohlen 2)
TURNOVERS: M-15; W-16
