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February 9 – First-Year Syrea Thomas banked-in a three-pointer with three seconds left to propel the Oberlin College women’s basketball team to a thrilling 64-63 victory over the College of Wooster on Friday night.
With Oberlin trailing 63-61 with 10 seconds to play, Alyssa Clark snagged a rebound off of a Taylor Keegan missed free throw and quickly pushed the ball up the far side – feeling the double-team coming she kicked the ball out to Thomas, who went off of the glass for the game-winning triple-hit.
Clark, a 5-foot-8 junior from Cleveland, Ohio led the Yeowomen with a 24 points and 13 rebounds – both of which are season-highs. She was 9-of-16 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from long distance. Thomas finished with 10 points and a career-high five steals, while senior Roneisha Kinney added eight points to go along with 11 boards.
“In the last eight minutes of the game, this team fought as hard as I have seen them fight all year long,” head coach Christa Champion said. “They deserved this win, and I am so proud of the way they played tonight.”
Things didn’t come easy for the Yeowomen as they trailed by 10, 52-42, with just over 10 minutes to play. A Clark jumper in the paint got Oberlin with 56-53 at the 5:53 mark. However, the Fighting Scots continued match the Yeowomen point-for-point over the next four minutes.
Back-to-back three-balls from Thomas and Alicia Smith made it a one-point game, 60-59, with 30 seconds left. A pair of charity tosses by Meredith Wilson gave Wooster a four-point edge, but a quick dribble-drive inside by Clark got OC right back within two, 63-61 – setting the stage for Keegan’s miss and Thomas’ line-drive bank-shot winner.
“Wooster played really well tonight,” Champion added. “I felt we lost our focus at times, but we were able to regroup and we played with a lot of intensity all game.”
Oberlin (5-15, 4-7 NCAC) shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) from the floor – including 6-of-16 from beyond the arc for a 37.5 percent success rate. Wooster (6-14, 3-8 NCAC) checked in at 39 percent (23-of-59) on the night.
OC also benefited from a 28-16 edge in points in the paint and 39-33 margin in the rebounding battle.
The Fighting Scots had three players score in double-figures with Kaitlin Krister leading the way with 15 points.
The Yeowomen will have a quick turnaround as they will welcome Denison University to Philips Gym tomorrow night for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Oberlin will be honoring its seniors Roneisha Kinney and Valerie Cain.
Yeo Notes: Alyssa Clark is just nine (9) points shy of 1,000 for her career … tonight’s win marked the first time this season Oberlin has won back-to-back games … Oberlin tied a season-high with 12 steals, matching its total from the first Wooster game back on Dec. 5, 2007 ... the game featured six lead changes and three ties ... OC led just twice in the second half ... 40-39 at the 15:24 mark and not again until the final three seconds.
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