Granville, Ohio - DePauw trailed Denison by six with five minutes to play in the North Coast Athletic Conference opener for both schools, but the Tigers closed the game on an 18-2 run and defeated the Big Red, 75-65. The Tigers improved to 4-3, while Denison dropped to 5-3.

The teams traded buckets early before DePauw scored the next 14 in what would be its largest lead of the game at 16-2. The Big Red closed the gap to 21-13 at the break. Denison chipped away at the Tigers' lead in the second and eventually knotted the score at 31-31 before DePauw closed the half with a 7-2 stretch to take a 38-33 advantage into the intermission.

DePauw connected on just 1-of-11 from the field in the third and the hosts outscored the Tigers, 18-9, to take a 51-47 lead into the fourth.

Denison pushed the lead to six on three occasions with the last coming at 63-57 with 5:09 left. Olivia Hart made the first of two free throws, but the Tigers grabbed the rebound and Ava Hassel knocked in a pair of free throws to close the gap to three. After a Denison miss, the Tigers kept possession with four offensive rebounds before Hart's layup cut the Big Red lead to 63-62 with 3:39 remaining. After another Big Red miss, Hart hit a free throw to tie the game. Diana Burgher's bucket and Lily Huntzinger's three gave DePauw a 68-63 advantage with 1:47 left. 

Denison's Maddie Goodman countered with a pair of free throws, but those would be the Big Red's last points of the game. The Tigers hit 7-of-8 from the line over the final 1:20, while the Big Red failed to connect from the field in their final three possessions.

Riley Mont led DePauw with 17 points and 10 rebounds and made all three of her 3-point attempts, while Burgher followed with 15 points. Hassel added 14 and a team-high five assists and Hart followed with 12 points.

Adelyn Moore led Denison with 17 points with Abby Cooch chipping in 13 and dishing out seven assists. Abigail Westmeyer recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

DePauw shot 42.1 percent from the field including knocking in 6-of-13 from beyond the arc, while Denison connected on 35.9 percent. The Tigers also made 21-of-25 free throws to Denison's 12-of-14. DePauw held a 43-36 rebounding edge including 19-4 in the fourth period. Each team committed 10 turnovers.

The Tigers return to action on Friday, Dec. 20, when they face Lawrence at 12p.m. at the Daytona Beach Shootout.