From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Case Western Reserve University sophomore forward Kara Hageman recorded her third 'double-double' of the season, and the Spartans' defense tallied a season-high 14 steals and scored 20 points off turnovers to lift the team to a 73-58 win over the College of Wooster in CWRU's home-opening contest on Wednesday night at the Horsburgh Gymnasium.
The Spartans never trailed in the game, en route to earning the team's second win of the season, improving to 2-5. Wooster dropped to 4-2 with the loss.
Hageman led all players in Wednesday's game with 24 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, shooting eight-for-18 from the field. Senior guard Jessica McCoy added a well-rounded performance with 15 points, five assists and career highs of eight rebounds, six blocks and four steals. Freshman forward Hillary Hellmann rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 points, in addition to nine rebounds.
Hellmann got the Spartans off to a quick start in the first period, scoring seven points during the opening ten minutes. CWRU twice took leads of seven points during the period, once on a layup by McCoy to make the score 13-6 with 3:35 to play, and again on a layup by freshman Alexis Amburgey with 24 seconds left to push the team's lead to 17-10. Wooster hit a late bucket to cut the lead to 17-12 after the first period.
The Spartans lead climbed to eight as late as the 4:21 mark in the second quarter, but a 7-0 run by the Fighting Scots cut the lead to one, 29-28, with 3:08 left in the period. CWRU rebuilt its lead to seven, 35-28, on a pair of free throws by Hageman with 1:46 to play, but would lead by just two heading into the half, 36-34, after another late run by Wooster.
Hellmann led all Spartans with nine first half points, while Hageman finished the first two quarters with seven points and eight rebounds. McCoy added a career-high four blocks in the first half alone, to go along with six points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
CWRU ran away with the contest in the third, shooting 50% (11-for-22) during the frame and ending the period on a 14-4 run to take a 61-47 lead with a Hageman layup as time expired. The Spartans saw their lead reach as many as 19 points in the fourth period on a McCoy layup with 8:40 remaining in the game, as the team cruised to the home-opening victory.
The Spartans outrebounded the Fighting Scots 59-45 in the game, including a 27-16 edge in offensive rebounds, leading to a 21-11 advantage in second chance points for CWRU. Case Western Reserve also outscored Wooster 46-22 in the paint on Wednesday.
Lauren Hancher led all Wooster players with 16 points, while Anna Gibbs contributed with 12 for the Scots.