CHICAGO, Ill. (November 11, 2023) – In its first game at the Midway Classic hosted by the University of Chicago, the Denison University women's basketball team came out on top in a tightly-contested matchup against the University of Wisconsin-Superior. In the end, the Big Red won by a final score of 53-50 on Saturday night.
Neither team led by more than four points in the first three quarters while Denison (2-0 overall) outscored Superior (0-1) by seven over the middle two quarters.
The Big Red closed out the third quarter with a three-point lead as a pair of free throws by
Morgan Kress allowed Denison to take a 39-38 lead before a layup by
Abigail Westmeyer in the final minute.
Denison lost the lead momentarily in the fourth quarter before getting it back on a layup by Kress, and then on the ensuing possession, Kress came up with a steal and took it all the way in for another layup to make it 46-43 Big Red with five and a half minutes left to play.
A steal and a layup by
Brooke Toigo in the final three minutes made it a 51-45 Denison lead, the largest lead of the game for either team, and then after the Yellowjackets cut it to four with a jumper on their next possession, the two teams combined to miss each of their next six shots.
An offensive rebound and layup on a missed free throw attempt by Superior cut Denison's lead to just one point (51-50) in the final minute, but fortunately for the Big Red, Westmeyer had the answer with a spin move in the paint and a lay-in off the glass on the next Denison possession, making it 53-50 with 30 seconds left.
The Yellowjackets elected to search for a 3-pointer to tie the game instead of going for two to try and extend it, and the Big Red were able to force an off-balance shot in the final seconds with the shooter falling backwards and just grazing the front of the rim on her attempt. Kress cleared the defensive rebound for Denison as time expired.
Kress recorded her first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, seven of which were offensive rebounds, while
Ava Warcaba had 10 points on 50 percent shooting (5-for-10) from the field. Kress also added two steals and three blocks to her already impressive stat sheet.
Denison will be back in action at 3 p.m. tomorrow (Nov. 12) against the hosts from No. 22 nationally-ranked Chicago.
