WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Capital University women's basketball team traveled across town to Otterbein University on Saturday evening and utilized a strong middle portion of the game to establish themselves en route to a 78-76 rivalry win in the annual Battle of the Oar.
The win was Capital's third in a row over the Cardinals and marks the second consecutive season in which the oar will return to Bexley. The Comets who also continued their nine game winning streak with the win tonight improved to 13-4 overall on the year and 8-2 in the OAC. The Cardinals are now 6-11 overall on the season and 4-6 in the conference.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Comets and Cardinals traded blows for the entirety of the first quarter, but the hosts finally created some separation with 1:38 left in the first period, leading 19-10. The Comets called a timeout and came out of the stoppage hitting back-to-back 3-pointers from
Laney Murphy and
Bri O'Connor to trim the gap. On the next trip down the floor,
Maddi Weiland drew a foul and converted both free throws to send the game to the first intermission with the score 19-18 – still in favor of Otterbein.
Early on in the second quarter, Otterbein continued to hold the upper hand, but a jumper from O'Connor at the 7:08 mark put Cap ahead 26-24. From there, Capital held the lead for much of the stanza, but the game went 38-37 in favor of the hosts at 2:11. Over the next 1:31 of the game, Capital went on a 9-0 run to distance themselves on the scoreboard, 46-38. The Comets did most of their damage from the free throw line in the run, but a 3-pointer from O'Connor helped the cause.
In the third, Capital and Otterbein again traded blows. At first, Capital built out the largest lead of the game for either team at 63-49 at the 2:22 mark of the third.
Maddi Weiland's 3-pointer at that point lifted the Comets at the moment. Staring the large deficit head on, Otterbein began to chip away, closing the game to eight points by the final intermission.
In the final period, Otterbein kept their foot on the gas, but the Comets did enough to stave away the comeback. Ahead 78-76 with 1:01 remaining in the game, Cap missed two chances to go ahead further, but then forced a defensive stop with one second remaining. With a chance to inbound under the basket, the Cardinals drew up a great play, but Katie McCrary's layup attempt rimmed out to secure the two-point win for Capital.
THE NUMBERS
Maddi Weiland poured in a career-high 20 points to lead the Comets in scoring. Most of Weiland's scoring came from the free throw line as she went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. She rounded out her career-night with five rebounds, three blocks and a steal.
Bri O'Connor dropped in 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting (including 2-for-3 from deep) and a perfect 6-of-6 from the stripe. She added two rebounds, four assists, a block and two steals.
Samaree Perkins recorded her ninth double-double of the season on 14 points and 11 rebounds. She was an efficient 5-for-7 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the line. She also chipped in an assist and a steal.
Laney Murphy rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points to go with two rebounds and one steal.
Demi Brewer finished with seven points, one board and three assists.
Kenzie Weiland (3 points),
Katie Burke (2) and
Kendall Spreen (1) also scored points off the bench.
As a team, the Comets out-shot the Cardinals 54.5% to 42.4%, while also holding the edge in rebounds 30-29.
The season sweep for the Comets over the Cardinals marks the first time since the 2014-15 season in which Cap has managed to take both games over Otterbein in the same season.
UP NEXT
The Comets will look to extend their winning run to double-digit games with a road game at Wilmington College on Wednesday, January 24th. Tipoff in Wilmington is set for 7 p.m.
