St. Louis, Mo. - DePauw closed the third period on a 10-0 run and led by as many as 17 in the fourth and held off a late charge by Wisconsin-Oshkosh for a 67-62 win in the opening game of WashU's McWilliams Classic. The Tigers moved to 3-3, while the Titans dropped to 4-2.
UW-Oshkosh led by as many as four in the opening period before the Tigers put together a 10-1 stretch to take a 14-9 lead. DePauw took a 14-13 lead into the quarter break and the Tigers built as much as a seven-point lead before heading to the intermission leading, 31-26.
The Titans were within two at 39-37 after Kate Huml's 3-pointer with 4:05 left in the third quarter, but the Tigers took a 52-39 lead into the fourth after scoring the final 10 of the period with four different players reaching the scorebook.
DePauw's lead reached a high-water mark of 17 at 61-44 after
Riley Mont drained a three with 7:22 left. UW-Oshkosh, however, scored the next nine as the Tigers turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions.
The Tigers still held a 65-57 lead after
Alina Prusko hit two free throws with 2:21 left, but DePauw failed to score on its next three trips down the court and the Titans managed just a single field goal to close the gap to 65-59. After DePauw missed a pair of free throws, Mallory Hoitink knocked in a trey with one second left to cut the Tigers' lead to 65-62. After an advancement timeout, DePauw's
Diana Burgher hit a jumper as time expired.
Ava Hassel paced DePauw with 16 points followed by Mont with 14 and
Ainsley Boras with six. Burgher grabbed eight rebounds as the Tigers held a 34-27 edge on the boards. Hassel added three assists and four steals.
Hoitink scored 20 off the bench for the Titans with Huml adding 16 and Kayce Vaile followed with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
DePauw shot 48.1 percent from the floor and hit 7-of-12 from 3-point range, while UW-Oshkosh connected on 44.2 percent from the floor but only 4-of-23 from beyond the arc.
The Tigers wrap up Classic play on Saturday with a 3 p.m. CST game against Hanover.
