Box score | Kris Huffman postgame interview
Greencastle, Ind. - The DePauw women's basketball team (25-0, 16-0 NCAC) finished off North Coast Athletic Conference play with a perfect 16-0 record for the second straight season after after defeating the Wooster Fighting Scots (9-16, 4-12 NCAC) on senior day, 76-41, on the Neal Fieldhouse floor.
The trio of seniors, Kathleen Molloy, Ellie Pearson and Kate Walker, registered their 111th career victory in the DePauw jersey to go along with just 10 losses. Additionally, the win over Wooster was the squad's 50th consecutive regular season win.
It marked just the fourth time in NCAC history that a team put together back-to-back undefeated conference slates and the first since the 2003-04 season when Wittenberg accomplished the feat.
Coming off their closest conference game of the season, a 54-46 victory over Wittenberg, the Tigers started slow, leading 13-7 after a Jessica Wingen jumper at 13:39 to bring the Fighting Scots to within six points.
From that point, DePauw head coach Kris Huffman instituted a full-court man-to-man press, and the Tigers never looked back. With high-pressure defense, the Tigers tallied eight steals over the final 13:39 of the first half to finish the opening stanza on a 30-7 run to go to the locker room leading Wooster, 43-14.
The Tigers didn't look back after the halftime break, extending their lead to as many as 39 in the second half.
Bouncing back from a dismal, 29.5 percent shooting night on Wednesday at Wittenberg, the Tigers torched Wooster from inside and outside, shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from beyond the arc in the first half.
Four Tigers scored in double-figures, led by Ali Ross' 15 points. Rounding out the double-digit scorers for DePauw were Kate Walker with 12 and Ellie Pearson and Alex Gasaway with 11 apiece.
Savannah Trees, the NCAC leader in the three-point percentage, was again on fire, scoring nine points on 3-5 long-range shooting.
Walker notched her season high in the rebounding category as she pulled down nine boards to lead the Tigers while Pearson brought her career rebounding output to 834 after a seven-rebound performance.
Wooster was led by Karley Walker's nine-point, five-rebound performance.
The Tigers stretched their streak of not being outrebounded by an opponent to 45 games as they nearly doubled the Fighting Scots on the glass, 45-23.
The NCAC Tournament gets underway on Tuesday, February 19, as the top-seeded Tigers host eighth-seed Hiram on the Neal Fieldhouse floor at a time to be determined.
For more information on the DePauw women's basketball program, follow DePauw on Twitter (@DePauwAthletics / @DePauw_WBB) or like them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/DePauwAthletics).
