GRANVILLE, Ohio (February 17, 2024) – Playing against the same team it will host in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals next week, the Denison University women's basketball team first hosted Oberlin College for Senior Day on Saturday and proceeded to secure a 76-64 defeat of the Yeowomen. While it was Senior Day for Amy Barry, Gaby Contreras, Francesca Sileo, Ava Warcaba and Denison's student manager Steven Young, it was junior Abigail Westmeyer and freshmen Ada Taute and Abby Cooch combining for 59 points for the Big Red, who outscored the Yeowomen 47-30 in the second half to take the victory.

Taute finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field and a 2-for-4 mark from three while also adding eight rebounds and three steals. It was her second-highest scoring output of the season.

Westmeyer was next with 20 points, tying her season-high while shooting 7-for-12 overall and 2-for-5 from three. She also matched Taute with eight rebounds and added three assists.

Lastly, Cooch finished with 17 points, connected on three 3-pointers, and recorded 10 assists for her first-career double-double. Cooch is the first Big Red player to reach double-digit assists in a game since Gabrielle Nottage had 12 assists against Wittenberg University on January 28, 2017.

The two teams started a combined 3-for-21 from the field until a 3-pointer by Westmeyer gave Denison its first lead of the day (7-6) with three minutes left in the first quarter, and then the Big Red led 9-8 after an offensive rebound and layup by Westmeyer on the next Denison possession.

The Big Red made their mark in the first quarter with eight offensive rebounds and six second chance points, but the Yeowomen held a 13-11 advantage after the opening period and then made it 16-11 after opening the second quarter with an and-one.

In all, there were eight lead changes in the first 13 and a half minutes of the game, but four 3-pointers in the second quarter for Oberlin helped stake the Yeowomen to a 34-29 lead at halftime.

Denison came charging out of the gates in the second half with an and-one by Cooch to start an 8-0 Big Red run to open the period. After a free throw by Westmeyer gave Denison the lead back (35-34), a beautiful pass from Cooch in transition found Taute for the lay-in to make it 37-34 just over three minutes into the third quarter

Then after Oberlin responded with an 8-0 run of its own to retake a five-point lead (42-37), another 3-pointer by Westmeyer made it 42-41 before a stretch of five straight points for the Yeowomen gave them their largest lead of the game to that point (47-41) with 2:13 left in the third period.

From there, however, it was mostly all Big Red as a 7-0 run for Denison ending with a 3-pointer by Cooch in front of her own bench made it a 48-47 Big Red lead in the final minute of the third quarter, which was good for the 11th and final lead change of the game.

A free throw by Cooch made it 49-47 Big Red heading into the fourth quarter before back-to-back three's by Westmeyer and Cooch early in the final quarter opened up Denison's lead to 55-47.

A three by Taute made it 58-49 and forced an Oberlin timeout with 7:12 remaining, and then Taute followed that up with a steal and an and-one to make it 61-49, the first double-digit lead of the game for either team, before going coast-to-coast for another layup after a steal to make it 63-49. All of that came before a 3-pointer by Brooke Toigo made it 66-49 with just under six minutes to play.

Denison was 9-for-13 (69.23 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter and was 5-for-6 (83.33 percent) from three in the period while also outscoring Oberlin by 12 (34-22) in the paint for the game.
 
After locking up the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament, Denison (19-6 overall, 10-4 NCAC) will now host No. 5-seeded Oberlin (16-9, 7-7) on Tuesday, February 20, for the NCAC quarterfinals. Last season, the Big Red fell by 10 points (72-62) at Oberlin in the quarterfinals when the Big Red were the fifth seed and the Yeowomen were the fourth. Should the Big Red be victorious over the Yeowomen this time around, it would be the most wins in a single season for Denison since the 2015-16 season when the Big Red went 23-5 overall, won the NCAC Championship with a 15-1 conference record, and made their most recent appearance in the NCAA Tournament.