GRANVILLE, Ohio (February 4, 2023) – The Denison University women's basketball put up a great effort against one of the top teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference, Wittenberg University, but in the end, the Big Red fell by a final score of 74-67 against the Tigers during Denison's Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Livingston Gymnasium.

It was Senior Day for Mikaila Carpenter, Rosie Drevline, Gabby Elliott, Jill Smith, Hannah Wynn and student manager Austin Davis.

Carpenter finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds during her Senior Day, which was good for the seventh double-double of her senior campaign. In addition to being Carpenter's second double-double in a row and third in the last four games, it was her second straight game amassing a season-high 13 boards.

For the other seniors, Wynn finished with nine points, six rebounds and four assists, and Smith sank a pair of 3-pointers to notch six points while also adding five assists and four boards, a career-high in all three categories. Drevline and Elliott both added three assists and both connected on 3-pointers in the second half to try and keep Denison in the game.

Among the non-seniors in action, Abigail Westmeyer scored 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field while Francesca Sileo also scored 12 points, which was a season-high, and was 4-for-5 from 3-point range.

As a team, Denison shot a combined 10-for-22 (45.5 percent) from three for the second time in the last three games, but the Tigers shot over 58 percent from the field during both the third and fourth quarters to keep the Big Red from being able to make a comeback. The Big Red were also outscored 42-26 on points in the paint.

The game featured four ties and nine lead changes as Denison led by as many as eight points (14-6) six minutes into the game after an 8-0 run featuring three layups by Westmeyer.

The Big Red then led it 19-14 after a layup by Carpenter to start the second quarter, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Wittenberg on its next two possessions put the Tigers in front.

The lead changed six more times in the second quarter, and then after two more lead changes in the first two and a half minutes of the third quarter, Smith hit a 3-pointer to tie it up at 38-38 four minutes into the period.

Unfortunately, the Tigers answered the 3-pointer by Denison with a fastbreak layup on their next possession to kick off a 10-0 run that ultimately made it 48-38 Wittenberg with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Denison got back to within three (51-48) after a 3-pointer by Drevline in the final 35 seconds of the third quarter, and then a corner 3-pointer by Sileo just under two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter got the Big Red to within two at 55-53.

The Tigers hit back with a layup and a 3-pointer of their own on their next two possessions to make it 60-53 with just under seven minutes remaining, and then in the final three and a half minutes of the game, Sileo's third 3-pointer of the fourth quarter got Denison to within four at 65-61.

In the final minute, a 3-pointer by Elliott made it 70-65 with just over 40 seconds left and a layup by Wynn made it 71-67 less than 10 seconds later, and then Wittenberg's second straight 1-for-2 trip from the free throw line left the door open for Denson to try and make it a one-score game. However, a miss from three for Denison and then two free throws by Wittenberg with 22 seconds left resulted in a five-point swing to put the game out of reach.

With its second seven-points loss to the Tigers this season, Denison falls to 8-13 overall and 3-7 in the NCAC while Wittenberg improves to 16-4 and 9-1 to keep its share of first place in the conference standings.

It will not get any easier as the Big Red hit the road next week for back-to-back matchups against two other teams positioned in the top-three spots in the NCAC standings. It will start with DePauw University at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, February 8, followed by Ohio Wesleyan University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 11.
 
Senior Day Recap:

Mikaila Carpenter has played in 61 games and started 42. She has totaled 655 points, 400 rebounds, 45 steals, 21 blocks and 16 double-doubles in her career. She has scored a career-high 20 points three times this season, and has recorded seven doubles-doubles so far as a senior. In 2021-22, Carpenter was named Honorable Mention All-NCAC after leading the Big Red with 11.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. She has been named the NCAC Athlete of the Week one time in her career, and earlier this season, she was named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week after averaging 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds across two games at the Bluffton Holiday Tournament. She is a two-time member of the NCAC Academic Honor Roll for both basketball and women's track & field team, and was a 2021-22 Denison Chi Alpha Sigma inductee.

Rosie Drevline has appeared in 23 games in her career, including 11 this season. She has totaled 14 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists in her career. She scored five points during Denison's win at Wooster earlier this season and recorded her first-career steal at Franciscan.

Gabby Elliott has played in 54 games and started 30, including starting in all 21 games so far this season. She has totaled 431 points, 161 rebounds, 85 assists and 48 steals in her career. She scored a career-high 21 points last week during Denison's win over Kenyon, and was named to the Hope College Tournament All-Tournament Team earlier this season after averaging 17.5 points per game and shooting 7-for-11 from three during Denison's two games. Elliott leads the Big Red with 33 3-pointers so far this season, and has made three of more 3-pointers in a game five times.

Jill Smith has appeared in 15 games, including six this season. She has totaled 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in her career, and this season, she had two steals vs. Wisconsin-Eau Claire, two rebounds at Transylvania, and scored her first two points of the season in Denison's win over Kenyon last weekend.

Hannah Wynn has appeared in 62 games with 43 starts, including starting every game for the last two seasons. She has totaled 247 points, 257 rebounds, 177 assists, 118 steals and 33 blocks in her career. In her junior season, Wynn recorded a double-double with career-highs 16 points and 13 rebounds in Denison's first conference game of the year against Wooster, and she dished out a career-high eight assists vs. Case Western Reserve University in the first month of the season. This season she has finished with three or more assists in 17 of 21 games, has grabbed five or more rebounds in 14 games, and has recorded three or more steals in 10 games. Last time out against Hiram, Wynn dished out a season-high of seven assists while earlier this season, she set a career-high with seven steals at Franciscan.

The Denison Women's basketball team also recognized one of their graduating student managers, Austin Davis. Austin has been a huge help this season in helping with drills, rebounding, book-keeping, and time management. The coaching staff and team greatly appreciate Austin's positive attitude and will miss him next season.