Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw closed the second quarter on a 24-4 run and pulled away from visiting Kenyon for a 56-42 North Coast Athletic Conference win in the home opener in Neal Fieldhouse. The Tigers, ranked sixth in the latest coaches' poll and eighth by D3hoops.com, improved to 11-1 with their seventh straight win, while the Ladies dropped to 4-8 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

DePauw shot 54.5 percent in the opening quarter in building as much as a five-point lead, but Kenyon drew even at 16-16 as the stanza ended.  The Tigers led 20-18 in the opening two minutes of the second period before rattling off eight straight to push the margin to double digits. Kenyon briefly closed the gap to eight, but the hosts again scored eight consecutive capped by Hayley Cange's layup with 2:32 left in the half which made it 36-20. The Ladies stopped that run with a bucket before DePauw finished with a 4-0 stretch to grab a 44-22 halftime advantage. In the second, DePauw shot 76.9% (10-13) to finish at 66.7% (16-24) for the half, while Kenyon connnected on 2 of 17 in the quarter.

The Tigers pushed the lead to a high of 24 points on two occasions with the last coming on Sydney Kopp's 3-pointer that made it 51-27 with 5:54 remaining in the third. DePauw scored just five more points the rest of the way as Kenyon utilized a 15-2 run to close to within 11 at 53-42 with just under three minutes left.

DePauw shot 35.7 percent from the floor for the game including just 12.5 percent in the second half, while Kenyon connected on 28.6 percent from the floor and committed just eight turnovers to the Tigers' 12.

Kopp led DePauw with 15 points, while Cange posted a double-double of 10 points and a career-high 16 rebounds as the Tigers held a 48-26 edge on the boards. 

Paige Matijasich paced Kenyon with 19 points and five rebounds, while Ellie Schaub added 10 points.

DePauw returns to NCAC action on Friday, January 3, with a 6 p.m. home game against Allegheny.