GRANVILLE, Ohio (January 10, 2024) – The Denison University women's basketball team suffered a 68-51 defeat against the defending North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Champions, Ohio Wesleyan University, on Wednesday night inside Branch Rickey Arena.

Denison entered the contest with the goal of not getting sped up and being able to handle the defensive pressure of an OWU team that ranks fourth in NCAA Division III in turnover margin (+13.85) and is 12th in turnovers forced per game (25.23). The Battling Bishops are also ranked first in the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio (+1.53) and are sixth in scoring margin per game (+26).

Denison raced to a 6-0 lead as Abby Cooch converted a 3-point play and Ada Taute connected from long range, and the Big Red still led, 8-3, after a hoop by Morgan Kress.

OWU answered with a 13-2 run that put OWU ahead to stay and ended with the Bishops holding a 16-10 lead with 3:13 left in the opening quarter.

Despite committing five turnovers against OWU's full-court press in the first quarter and being outrebounded by five (12-7), the Big Red stayed right with the Bishops down 20-18 at the end of the opening period after shooting 50 percent (7-14) from the field and closing the quarter with a three-point play by Kress during the final seconds.

In the second quarter, however, OWU opened the period with an 8-0 run to extend the lead into double digits as Denison again allowed 20 points by the Bishops, seven of which came on free throws, and committed five more turnovers while being outrebounded 16-6. In all for the first half, OWU led Denison 16-3 on the offensive glass and outscored the Big Red 16-9 on second chance points and 15-5 in points off turnovers.

Trailing by 10 (40-30) at the break, Denison did open the third quarter with a 3-pointer by Taute and a layup by Kress to cut its deficit in half (40-35), and then Denison got to within four of the Bishops as a Brooke Toigo 3-pointer brought the Big Red to within 42-38 midway through the third quarter. However, the Bishops soon went on a 9-0 run that put them in front by 11 (53-40) under the three-minute mark in the period, and the OWU lead would remain in double figures throughout the remainder of the evening.

Despite the loss, the Denison defense did hold OWU to 32 percent shooting for the game and 25 percent shooting from three while shooting 42.2 percent overall and 43.8 percent from three themselves. However, it was a 51-26 advantage on the boards and a 27-3 advantage on offensive rebounds for the Battling Bishops, who put together a 31-6 scoring edge on second chance points and also outscored Denison 27-7 in points off turnovers after finishing the game with 13 steals.

Denison was led by Taute with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Cooch scored nine points and Kress added seven. Maddie Goodman and Violet Mitchell both had six points as well while Ava Warcaba chipped in with four.

It was a matchup featuring two teams with identical records entering the contest as Denison fell to 10-4 overall and 1-2 in the NCAC while OWU improved to 11-3 and 2-1 and improved to a perfect 7-0 at home.

Denison will wrap up the week with another road game at Kenyon College, starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 13.