GRANVILLE, Ohio (January 24, 2024) – Abby Cooch scored a team-high 15 points and Morgan Kress approached triple-double territory with 12 points, nine rebounds and eight blocks to help lead the Denison University women's basketball team to its fourth win in a row with a 62-57 victory over Hiram College on Wednesday inside Livingston Gymnasium.

Denison (14-4 overall, 5-2 North Coast Athletic Conference) trailed 7-4 three minutes into the game but proceeded to try and set the tone with a 13-0 run to take a 10-point lead (17-7) with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter. Led by Kress with four points, five players scored for the Big Red during the run, which lasted for over four minutes and saw Denison make six of eight shots while Hiram (7-11, 2-5) was 0-for-4 with three turnovers.

Also included in that first-quarter run for Denison was a 3-pointer by Brooke Toigo, who connected on a long 2-pointer to open up the scoring in the second quarter and make it 21-12 Big Red.

Hiram, however, stayed within striking distance for the rest of the second quarter and trailed by only two points (36-34) at halftime after a long 3-pointer from the logo in front of the Big Red bench by Anastasia Lawler with time running down in the first half.

Denison was outscored by five points (22-17) in the second quarter, and then the third quarter started with a Big Red turnover and a layup by the Terriers to tie it at 36-36 before Denison answered back with a layup by Bryana Woodard followed by another 3-pointer by Toigo.

That made it 41-36 Big Red, and then after a jumper by Hiram made it 41-38 three minutes into the third quarter, the two teams went scoreless for the next three minutes and both missed their next four shots until a layup by Kress stopped the scoring drought.

Denison was then able to close out the final minute and a half of the third quarter with a fastbreak layup by Cooch and a 3-pointer by Abigail Westmeyer, making it 52-43 Big Red heading into the final period.

Hiram shot just 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) from the field in the third quarter, but then Lawler opened up the fourth quarter with her third 3-pointer of the game, and then a missed free throw by the Terriers led to an offensive rebound and another 3-pointer from Lawler to cap a 7-0 run and make it just a two-point Denison lead (52-50) just over a minute into the period.

That is where the score remained until a step-back 3-pointer by Cooch with six minutes to go.

Hiram continued to fight back, however, and came up with a steal and a layup on the next Denison possession to make it 55-52, and then a free throw by the Terriers with under five minutes left made it 55-53.

On the next Hiram possession, Kress came up with her seventh block of the game as the Terriers tried to tie it with a layup. Kress then continued to step up in crunch time with a midrange jumper followed by a layup on Denison's next two possessions to give the Big Red a little bit of breathing room up 59-53 with under three and a half minutes left to play.

After a timeout by Hiram, Denison proceeded to get a defensive stop and then scored on its third possession in a row as a layup by Cooch made it 61-53 with under two minutes to go.

Also stepping up to help seal the win was the Denison defense, which held Hiram to just one made field goal throughout the final five minutes of the game.

In addition to Cooch and Kress, Toigo reached double digits in scoring with 10 points while Ada Taute and Woodard both added eight points. Lastly, Westmeyer finished with seven points, matched Kress with nine rebounds, and also contributed with three steals.

For Hiram, Lawler finished 4-for-6 from three while the Terriers were 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) as a team from long range. Hiram was able to keep it a single-digit game for the entirety of the second half, coming as close as two points from leveling the score in what ended up being a two-possession loss.

Denison will try to keep its winning streak going next time out as the Big Red head to the College of Wooster for a 1 p.m. showdown on Saturday, January 27.