GRANVILLE, Ohio (November 8, 2022) – The Denison University women's basketball team used strong shooting in the first quarter and withstood a comeback attempt in the fourth quarter to take down Heidelberg University by 10, 65-55, in its 2022-23 season opener and first game under the leadership of new Head Coach Maureen Hirt.

The season got off to a great start with a jumper by Abigail Westmeyer on Denison's first possession of the game. Then tied at 6-6 just over three minutes into the game, a 3-pointer by Gabby Elliott started what would be a 16-1 run to end the first quarter for the Big Red.

A midrange jumper by Maddie Goodman with three minutes left in the first quarter gave Denison its first double-digit lead of the contest at 18-7.

In all, the Big Red jumped out to a 22-7 lead on 55.6 percent shooting (10-for-18) in the first quarter and got a buzzer-beating midrange jumper from Mary Kate Drevline to fall through after softly hitting the front of the rim at the very end of the quarter.

The Big Red were red hot from the midrange early on as Ava Warcaba hit a jumper to start the second quarter and make it 24-7, and then Denison took what would be its largest lead of the game at 28-10 on another jumper by Warcaba just a minute and a half into the second quarter.

Westmeyer (9 points) and Warcaba (8 points) accounted for half of Denison's point total in the first half as the Big Red led it 34-22. In addition, Denison's 10 made field goals in the first quarter alone were more than Heidelberg had in the entire first half (9-for-32).

Denison maintained its double-digit lead the whole way in the third quarter as Heidelberg got to within 11 at 44-33 with three minutes remaining in the period, but back-to-back layups by Mikaila Carpenter stretched Denison's lead back out to 15 points (48-33).

In all, the Big Red led by 15 points at seven different points in the third quarter and as good as they shot in the first quarter, they were even better in the third quarter at 57.1 percent (8-for-14).

Early in the fourth quarter, Heidelberg missed a 3-pointer that could have cut its deficit down to nine, but Hannah Wynn secured the rebound before a pair of free throws by Elliott and then a smooth midrange jumper by Warcaba got the Big Red back to a comfortable 16-point lead (58-42) with seven minutes left to play.

A missed fastbreak layup by Heidelberg at the 5:30-mark again kept the road team from getting to within single digits, and then after a steal by Heidelberg on the next possession, Wynn stepped up and drew the charge in transition to keep the score at 58-47 Big Red.

Then with under four minutes remaining, a pretty turnaround jumper in the paint by Warcaba made it 60-47.

Heidelberg got the margin down to 10 (60-50) with a putback layup with 3:23 remaining, and then finally got to within single-digits after a free throw with 2:27 left made it 60-51.

With both teams in the bonus, two more free throws for Heidelberg made it 60-53 with 2:18 left, but a jumper by Carpenter with only a minute left got it back to a 10-point game at 63-53.

Carpenter led all players with 16 points and got her senior season started off with a double-double as she added 10 rebounds and was 7-for-11 from the field.

Warcaba finished with 14 points on 70 percent shooting (7-for-10) while adding eight rebounds, and Westmeyer also had eight rebounds to go along with nine points.

Wynn finished with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks while Elliott had seven points, four rebounds and four assists and Goodman had seven points and a game-high six assists.

Denison will now have a week off before playing in its first road game of the 2022-23 season at Capital University on Tuesday, November 15 (7 p.m.), in Bexley, Ohio.