Greencastle, Ind. - Top-seed DePauw trailed by 10 points in the opening quarter of its North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal game against fourth-seed Denison, but outscored the Big Red, 19-5, in the second period and held on for a 76-69 win. Both teams moved to 20-7 on the season as the Tigers advanced to tomorrow's 4 p.m. championship game where they'll face second-seed Ohio Wesleyan after the Battling Bishops topped Wittenberg in the first semifinal contest, 61-48.
DePauw jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening 1:40 as
Ava Hassel hit back-to-back threes and
Lily Huntzinger nailed a jumper. The Big Red responded with a 17-6 run to take a 19-14 advantage. A late 7-0 stretch pushed the Denison lead to 28-18 as the Big Red led at the quarter break, 28-19.
The Tigers opened the second period with a 15-3 run to grab a 34-31 lead. Denison countered with a basket before DePauw scored the final four of the half to make it 38-33 at the intermission.
DePauw pushed the margin to double digits for the first time by scoring the first six points of the second half, but Denison scored the next eight over a 1:47 stretch to cut the deficit to three. The Tigers held the lead the rest of the stanza and took a 53-52 advantage into the final period.
The Tigers gradually stretched the margin to eight at 65-57 and the Big Red closed it back to five on a couple of occasions before DePauw scored six straight while holding Denison scoreless for three minutes to extend the lead to 73-62 with 1:02 remaining.
Hassel paced DePauw with 21 points and six assists with Diana Burger adding 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Riley Mont chipped in 11 points.
Ada Taute led Denison with 30 points, eight rebounds and four steals with Abby Cooch finishing with 14 points and 10 assists. Brooke Toigo followed with 12 points.
The Tigers shot 36.5 percent from the floor to Denison's 41.3 percent and DePauw made 23-of-30 free throws, while the Big Red connected on just 12-of-24. DePauw held a 47-39 rebounding edge and blocked 10 shots.
In the earlier semifinal contest, Ohio Wesleyan trailed early but gradually pulled away for the 13-point win. Kasey Schipfer led the Battling Bishops with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four steals with Alyssa Griner scoring 14. Elizabeth Homan dished out nine assists.
Jade Simpson led Wittenberg with 13 points, while Riane Burton grabbed 11 rebounds and Jazmyn Gaines-Burns handed out five assists.
