HOLLAND, Mich. (November 19, 2022) – Gabby Elliott and Mikaila Carpenter both scored 17 points while Abigail Westmeyer approached triple-double territory with 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists to lead the Denison University women's basketball team to an 84-80 victory over Finlandia University during day two of the Hope College Tournament. It was Denison's most points in a game since January 18, 2020, against Allegheny College.

Following the conclusion of the tournament, Elliott was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 17.5 points per game and shooting 12-for-17 (.706 percent) from the field and 7-for-11 (.636 percent) from three during Denison's two games.

It was also the first ever meeting between Denison (2-2 overall) and Finlandia (2-3), and despite leads of as much as 17 points in the first half and 18 points in the second half for the Big Red, it came down to the final few minutes to officially decide a winner.

After a 3-pointer by Elliott gave Denison a 10-point lead (74-64) with only five and a half minutes left to play, Finlandia got to within five at 74-69 after a 3-pointer of their own with four minutes left, and then a pair of free throws by the Lions made it a four-point game (75-71) with 3:45 remaining.

It was a four-point game again at 77-73 with just over two minutes left before Elliott hit another 3-pointer to make it a three-possession game, and then after a 3-point miss by Finlandia, Westmeyer connected on a pair of free throws to make it a nine-point Big Red lead (82-73) with just a minute and a half left on the clock.

However, Finlandia refused to go down easily and drew to within five (82-77) after a layup, a Denison turnover and a jumper with just over 40 seconds left. Then a 3-pointer by the Lions made it only a 3-point game at 83-80 with under 15 seconds to go.

From there, Westmeyer went back to the free throw line and hit her second attempt to make it a two-score game again and put it out of reach as the Lions missed on a pair of 3-pointers in the final moments.
 
Ava Warcaba would finish with 13 points on 9-for-10 shooting from the free throw line while despite not scoring, Hannah Wynn found a way to impact the game with five rebounds, five assists and six steals. In all, Denison finished with 20 assists on its 26 made field goals.

Additionally, the Big Red shot over 49 percent from the field and over 47 percent from three, and were 24-for-33 (72.7 percent) from the free throw line while Finlandia finished only 10-for-20 from the line.

After leading 16-13 after the first quarter, Denison opened up the second quarter on an 8-0 run in a minute and a half to take a 24-13 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Elliott and Molly Fisher.

Denison then went on a 14-5 run to stretch its lead to 17 at 40-23 after a layup by Carpenter with two minutes left until halftime.

Warcaba accounted for 10 points during the run, including a perfect 8-for-8 mark from the free throw line, while Carpenter added another layup in the final 30 seconds of the half to cap a 26-point second quarter for the Big Red.

Then halfway through the third quarter, Denison went up by 18 points at 55-37 after a 3-pointer by Brooke Toigo on the sixth assist of the game by Westmeyer, but Finlandia did its best to stay within striking distance and get its deficit back to a 10-point margin (63-53) in the final minute of the third quarter.

After a 3-pointer by Francesca Sileo made it 66-53 Denison in the final 15 seconds of the third quarter, Finlandia ended the quarter with a free throw and then stared the fourth quarter with the first seven points to get within five at 66-61 with seven and a half minutes left to play.

From there, Carpenter answered with an and-one to make it 69-61, and then Maddie Goodman followed with a layup on the fourth assist by Wynn to get it back to a 10-point game (71-61) with 6:42 remaining.

Denison will return to the court for a road matchup at Franciscan University at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 22, at Steubenville High School.