GRANVILLE, Ohio (January 28, 2023) – Led by five players scoring in double figures, including a career-high 21 points by senior Gabby Elliott, the Denison University women's basketball team earned its first home win since its season opener with a 93-69 victory over Kenyon College on Saturday afternoon.

It was also Alumni Day for the Big Red, who prior to tipoff came together to recognize the achievements and legacy left behind by Coach Sara Lee, who last season coached her final season as the head coach of the Big Red women's basketball team. Coach Lee was honored with a framed jersey, which included the number 33 for her number of years as head coach of the Big Red.

Denison scored a combined 55 points between the second and third quarters, and shot at least 50 percent from the field in each of the final three quarters. In the end, the Big Red's 93 points were their most in a single game since scoring 100 points at Hunter College on November 17, 2018.

Elliott scored her 21 points thanks in large part to four made 3-pointers, each of which came in the first half.

Next was Abigail Westmeyer with 16 points and nine rebounds, followed by Maddie Goodman with 14 points; Hannah Wynn with 12 points, four assists and five steals, Mikaila Carpenter with 10 points and six boards; and Brooke Toigo with nine points.

It was a rough start offensively as Denison missed its first eight shots and did not connect on a field goal until a 3-pointer by Elliott over five minutes in.

Despite the slow start, the Big Red turned up the pressure on the defensive end to help ignite the offense. In the final two minutes of the first quarter, a steal by Goodman led to a layup by Wynn, and then the second 3-pointer of the first quarter for Elliott gave Denison the lead (14-12) in the final minute of the period.

Wynn sank a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as the clock ran out at the end of the first quarter to make it 18-12 Big Red. Denison had five steals on seven Kenyon turnovers and outscored the Owls 11-0 in points off turnovers in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Wynn connected again from 3-point range to make it 21-15 Big Red, and then with the score tied at 21-21 just over a minute and a half later, Elliott broke the tie with her third 3-pointer of the first half.

Denison continued to make it rain 3-pointers in the first half as Molly Fisher got into the act to make it 33-28 Big Red with four and a half minutes to go until halftime, and that was followed by a nice midrange jumper by Westmeyer. Wynn then went coast-to-coast with a steal and a layup to cap the 7-0 run and give Denison a 37-28 lead.

In the final minute of the first half, yet another steal led to points for the Big Red as Elliott hit her fourth 3-pointer of the opening 20 minutes to give Denison a 12-point lead (45-33) at halftime.

In addition to shooting 7-for-15 (46.7 percent) from three in the first half, which was only one 3-pointer short of its season-high for an entire game, Denison added four more steals on six more Kenyon turnovers in the second quarter and led the game 18-4 in points off turnovers at the break.

The Big Red then opened up the second half with six straight points on a layup by Westmeyer, a jumper by Carpenter and a pair of free throws by Westmeyer on their first three possessions.

That made it an 18-point (51-33) lead for Denison, which expanded its lead to as much as 25 points (73-48) in the third quarter after a layup by Goodman with under a minute and a half remaining in the period.

In the fourth quarter, a 3-pointer by Rosie Drevline put Denison ahead by 27 (88-61) and helped the Big Red set a new season-high for 3-pointers made in a game, which ended up being 10 after a three on the first-career basket by freshman Katie Houpt in the final 30 seconds.

Denison improves to 8-11 overall and 3-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference with what was its fifth straight win over Kenyon (6-13, 2-6).

Saturday's contest was the beginning of the three-game homestand for the Big Red, who will now kick off the final month of the season in a battle against Hiram College at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 1, before hosting Wittenberg University at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 4, for Senior Day.