A slow start plus a slow finish equaled defeat for the Wilmington College women's basketball team as they fell, 76-68, to Case Western Reserve in Friday's opening game of the 2013 Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament.
The Fightin' Quakers scored just four points in the opening eight minutes of the game, falling behind 8-2; and then had a five-minute stretch late in the game in which the Spartans had 18-4 run that sealed the fate. The latter run came on the heels of Wilmington taking the lead for the first time with a little over seven minutes remaining in the game.
"Case is a well-coached team," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "I thought we executed well early, but we just couldn't make a shot. We spent most of the game fighting back. When we fought back, they hit a couple big shots, we had a couple of turnovers, and we are back down seven having to play catch up again."
It marks just the second time in the tournament's eight-year history Wilmington has failed to reach the championship game of the Raizk Tournament.
Lack of proficiency at the free throw was also a bugaboo for Wilmington as they converted just 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) from the charity stripe. However, Scheve didn't get too worked up about it.
"We will make free throws," he said. "We are a good free throw shooting team. You just have bad nights, and unfortunately, it can be contagious."
The Fightin' Quakers connected on 4-of-12 from the line in the first half as they trailed by eight going into the locker room.
Four different players scored as WC opened the half with a 13-6 run to claw to within one early in the second half. However, the Spartans hit enough shots to keep the home team at bay for a while. Junior Spencer Robles (Clyde, OH/Clyde) score half of Wilmington's points during a 10-2 run that gave them the lead.
Unfortunately, Case immediately responded with a three-pointer to squelch the momentum and the aforementioned run sealed the game.
"We did a lot of good things tonight," said Scheve. "We took better care of the basketball, went to the offensive boards; we just missed easy shots – lay-ups. We did a great job of getting to the free throw line and keeping them off the line."
Robles tallied a season-high 16 points leading a quintet of double figure scorers. She finished 6-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Senior Haley Howard (Uhrichsville, OH/New Philadelphia) added 14 points, five assists and two rebounds, while senior Bethany Ahrens (Beavercreek, OH/Beavercreek) finished with 11 points.
Freshman Brittaney Jefferson (Dayton, OH/Chaminade-Julienne) recorded a career-high 10 points.
Senior Makenzie Wippel (Orient, OH/Westfall) pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
Wilmington (1-2) will face Rose-Hulman 1 p.m. Saturday in the consolation game.