Denison freshman Jordan Holmes set the North Coast Athletic Conference and school records for blocks in a season, but a 20-point performance by DePauw's Alex Gasaway helped push the top-ranked Tigers past the Big Red, 61-51, on Wednesday night in Granville.

Entering tonight's clash with the number one team in the nation, Holmes needed just four blocks to tie the single-season conference mark set by former Denison standout Kristen Sheffield in 2004-05 (106).

The 6-foot-1 freshman tied the NCAC record just one minute and nine seconds into the second period.  Almost 11 minutes later at the 7:55 mark, Holmes blocked a shot attempt by Gasaway to surpass Sheffield's total.  Holmes added three more blocks to finish with eight on the night and 110 on the year.

The Big Red jumped out to an early 6-0 forcing DePauw head coach Kris Huffman to call a timeout.  Denison eventually built a 14-7 lead, before a 7-0 Tiger run tied the contest.  DU regained the lead with a Kellie Arter 3-pointer off a pass from Aubrey Rogers.  The home team maintained the edge until the 1:04 mark when Savannah Trees knocked down a jumper that put DePauw in front for the first time at 22-21.  Another bucket by Ali Ross allowed the Tigers to take a three-point lead into the locker room.

Despite trailing for the majority of the second half, Denison stayed within striking distance.  Down eight points midway through the period, the Big Red scored six of the next nine tallies  to shrink the deficit to 48-43.  However, a 6-0 run capped off by a Ross three-pointer with 1:36 to go made it an 11-point game, securing the DePauw victory.

Holmes nearly had her second-career triple-double after scoring 10 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with her eight blocks.  Candise Love led Denison offensively with 12 points, while Gretchen Staubach had eight points, three assists and two steals.  Arter also chipped in eight points off the bench.

In addition to her 20 points, Gasaway also grabbed nine rebounds.  Trees chipped in 15 points, while Ross and Emma Ondik each had 10 tallies.

Denison held a slight advantage from the floor with a 36.7 conversion rate (22-for-60) compared to the Tigers' 36.5-percent performance (19-for-52). However, DePauw did significant damage at the charity stripe, knocking down 20-of-26 attempts.  On the flip side, the Big Red scored four points in six trips to the foul line.

DU falls to 14-5 overall and 6-4 in the NCAC, while DePauw improves to 19-0 and 10-0 in league play.  Denison looks to rebound on Saturday when they host Wittenberg at 2 p.m.