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February 2 – An outstanding team effort and good second-half adjustments helped the Oberlin women’s basketball team to a 70-64 victory over Earlham on Saturday afternoon at Philips Gym.
Sophomore Alicia Smith continues to shine as she scored a game-high 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting to pace the Yeowomen’s offensive attack. The 5-foot-5 guard dialed in on 4-of-7 triple-tries and also converted 8-of-10 attempts at the line. Alyssa Clark added 16 points to go along with seven boards, while matching a season-high seven assists. After battling foul trouble in the first half, senior Roneisha Kinney added 13 points – all coming in the second half – while also recording a team-high nine rebounds.
“We were a little flat in the first half,” head coach Christa Champion said. “It took us a while to attack their zone and we were missing Roneisha’s scoring even though Fran (Holoman) and Emily (Chu Finkel) gave us some solid minutes inside. We got comfortable in the second half and played good team offense.”
OC (4-15, 3-7 NCAC) trailed 27-26 at the break, but started the second half on an 11-2 run to claim a 38-31 lead at the 16:20 mark. The Quakers rallied to knot things up at 45 on a 3-pointer by Tasha Merrill with 8:28 left on the clock.
Oberlin quickly built back up a nine-point edge, 58-49, with less than four minutes to play, but Earlham (2-17, 1-9 NCAC) didn’t go away quietly as it hit three triples in the final to minute - forcing the Yeowomen to be clutch at the free-throw line, which they were – nailing 9-of-10 charity tosses in the final minute to secure the win.
“I am pleased we were able to fight off their threats down the stretch,” Champion added. “We handled the end of the game situation very well, and I am very pleased with this win. We have now won three of our last six games and are starting to gel as a team.”
OC shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the field, while it limited Earlham to just 32 percent (24-of-75). The Yeowomen also held a 30-20 advantage in points in the paint.
The Yeowomen will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 8 when they welcome Wooster to town for a 7:30 p.m. showdown.
Yeo Note: Alyssa Clark is just 31 points shy of reaching 1,000 points for her career.
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