NEW CONCORD — Senior McKayla Binkley became the 14th Wilmington College women’s basketball player to score 1,000 career points in a 93-83 loss to Muskingum University Saturday in Ohio Athletic Conference action.
The Lynchburg-Clay graduate, who came into the game a point shy of the 1,000-point plateau, scored the Fightin’ Quakers’ second basket of the game. The Fighting Muskies came out of the gate firing, hitting their first two three-pointers and completing the first quarter 7-of-13 from long distance.
Wilmington, which trailed 31-18 after 10 minutes, couldn’t cut into the lead early in the second quarter as another Musky triple midway through the session gave the hosts a 44-22 advantage.
Wilmington ended the half well, however, going on a 16-7 run including layups from McKayla Binkley, Kennedy Lewis and Kelis Jones in the final 34 seconds to get within 51-38 at halftime.
The Quakers used the halftime break and continued the momentum to get the deficit to single digits, 54-47, two minutes into the third quarter.
Unfortunately, Wilmington would score just a single point over the next five minutes. A Cassidy Lovett broke the field goal scoreless streak, but by that time, the Muskies were back up 17. The Quakers outscored the Muskies 27-19 in the final quarter, but never got closer than six points.
Muskingum finished 15-of-30 (50 percent) from long distance while holding Wilmington, which made more field goals (33-30), to just a 2-of-14 (21.4 percent) clip from beyond the arc. The Quakers held a 50-45 rebounding edge, and both teams committed 19 turnovers.
Wilmington was led by McKayla Binkley’s 20 points and nine rebounds while Haley Cook, Zahrya Bailey and Lewis all scored in double figures.
Wilmington (2-2) faces Capital University in a two-game series this weekend.
