GRANVILLE, Ohio (January 31, 2024) – The two teams entered the night with identical records of 15-4 overall and 6-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, but in the end, the Denison University Big Red were unable to capitalize on their opportunity to take control of third place in the NCAC standings and instead fell by a final score of 63-61 at home against Ohio Wesleyan University on Wednesday.

Just like it did in the first meeting this season between the two teams, Denison (15-5 overall, 6-3 NCAC) struggled against the press from Ohio Wesleyan (16-4, 7-2) in the opening quarter. This time, the Big Red finished the opening period with 10 turnovers, including six turnovers during the final four and a half minutes of the first quarter, a time period in which Denison was outscored 7-0 after previously tying the game at 10-10 on a layup by Maddie Goodman.

OWU then outscored Denison 11-4 in the first four minutes of the second quarter to open up a 14-point lead (28-14).

The Big Red however, did not panic, began to take better care of the ball (4 turnovers in the second quarter), knocked down four 3-pointers in the second quarter and were able to cut their deficit to six points (38-32) after a banked in three by Abby Cooch just before the halftime buzzer.

The second half then saw OWU miss its first five shots while Denison cut it to a one-possession game (38-35) after a pair of free throws by Cooch two minutes in.

Back-to-back layups by Brooke Toigo and Bryana Woodard got the Big Red to within one (45-44) with two and a half minutes left in the third quarter; and then in the final minute, a second-chance putback by Abigail Westmeyer put Denison ahead for the first time in the game, 46-45, entering the final period.

OWU was just 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from the field in the third quarter, and then after the Battling Bishops took back the lead with two free throws in the first 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, the lead changed hands two more times before a 3-pointer by Toigo tied it at 58-58 three minutes in.

An and-one and a layup by the reigning NCAC Offensive Athlete of the Week, Kasey Schipfer, made it 56-51 Bishops three and a half minutes into the final quarter, but Woodard answered with back-to-back layups to get Denison back to within one (56-55) with just under five minutes remaining.

Ada Taute followed with a 3-pointer to put the Big Red ahead 58-56, but the Bishops had the answer on a jumper by Lauren Denison to tie it back up on their next possession.

Then in the final three minutes, an and-one by Morgan Kress put Denison up by three (61-58), and the score remained the same until the final minute of the game when an offensive rebound and assist by OWU's Macy Miller led to a game-tying 3-pointer by Elizabeth Homan with 49 seconds to go.

Denison had a chance to take back the lead after a timeout with 35.5 seconds left, but instead a costly turnover by Cooch led to a steal by Schipfer and a fastbreak layup by Miller to allow the Bishops to take the lead, and then after another Denison timeout with 5.2 seconds left, a contested 2-point jumper by Taute trying to send the game into overtime was off the mark.

Cooch led Denison with 18 points on 50 percent shooting both from the field (6-12) and from three (4-8) while adding five rebounds and five assists.

Next was Taute with 12 points on three 3-pointers to go along with a game-high eight rebounds while Toigo finished with 10 points and connected on a pair of 3-pointers.

Lastly, Goodman finished with four points, five rebounds and five assists.

In addition to outrebounding OWU 35-32 after being outrebounded 51-26 in their first meeting this season, the Big Red also outshot the Bishops in all three phases of the game on Wednesday, but were unable to come out with the victory.

It will not get any easier as the Big Red kick off the final month of the season with back-to-back road games against the top-two teams in the NCAC standings. Denison will first play at Wittenberg University starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 3, followed by a 6 p.m. showdown at DePauw University on Wednesday, February 7.