GRANVILLE, Ohio (February 10, 2024) – The Denison University women's basketball team scored 53 points in the first half alone and handed a 72-37 defeat to the Owls of Kenyon College during the Big Red's Alumni Day and Play4Kay Game on Saturday inside Livingston Gymnasium.

Denison (17-6 overall, 8-4 North Coast Athletic Conference) was led by 15 points from Ada Taute and 13 points from both Brooke Toigo and Abigail Westmeyer. Taute and Toigo were both 2-for-2 from 3-point range while Westmeyer was 3-for-4.

Taute also added a career-high five steals while Westmeyer led the Big Red with seven rebounds and was followed by Violet Mitchell with six boards.

In addition, senior Amy Barry was 3-for-4 from the free throw line and scored a season-high five points.

Denison jumped out to an early 10-point lead (12-2) less than three minutes in after 3-pointers by Toigo and Taute on back-to-back possessions.

The Big Red again hit a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, this time by Abby Cooch and Westmeyer to make it 23-5 with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter.

With five seconds left in the opening period, Denison had the ball on its own baseline and got the ball to Taute, who went around her defender and spun toward the hoop for the nice bank shot at the buzzer to cap a 27-point first quarter.

Denison came out of the gates hot and all but decided the game through the first 20 minutes. The Big Red shot a red-hot 10-for-16 in the first frame, including 4-of-6 from downtown.

The Big Red expanded their lead to 25 points (34-9) on another 3-pointer by Toigo just over three minutes into the second quarter, and then eight straight points by Westmeyer on back-to-back threes and a layup made it a 35-point game (48-13) with under two and a half minutes left in the period.

It was a 40-point margin (53-13) at halftime as Taute again just beat the buzzer before the end of the quarter and finished off the old-fashioned 3-point play at the line.

In the end, the Big Red outrebounded the Owls by 10 (46-36), out-assisted them by 10 (13-3), tripled them in steals (15-5), and limited them to just two bench points and zero fastbreak points.

The final week of the regular season will see the Big Red travel to Hiram College at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14, all before closing out the regular season with Senior Day against Oberlin College starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 17.