GRANVILLE, Ohio (February 20, 2024) – Junior Abigail Westmeyer poured in 21 points and freshman Morgan Kress added 17, both career-highs, as the No. 4-seeded Denison University women's basketball defeated No. 5-seeded Oberlin College 75-60 in the quarterfinals of the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday night inside Livingston Gymnasium. The Big Red swept the regular-season series against the Yeowomen and used a 28-point second quarter to separate themselves in this one.

After eight ties and five lead changes in a first quarter that ended with the two teams tied at 16, Denison opened up the second quarter with seven straight points from Westmeyer on a corner 3-pointer, a layup and a pullup jumper to make it 23-16 Big Red two minutes into the period. In all, Westmeyer accounted for each of Denison's first nine points of the second quarter, nearly matching the first-quarter output from Oberlin's Alyson Jefferson, who accounted for 10 of Oberlin's 16 points in the first 10 minutes.

Westmeyer later connected on her second 3-pointer of the second quarter to give the Big Red a nine-point lead (34-25) in the final three minutes of the first half, and then on the next Denison possession, the former Yeowoman Bryana Woodard followed with a layup to get Denison's lead to double digits (36-25) for the first time in the game.

Denison continued to stroke it from long range as on the next Big Red possession, Woodard found Violet Mitchell for a 3-pointer to make it 39-28, and then the following possession saw Mitchell convert on an and-one following an offensive rebound to make it 42-28.

Westmeyer's domination of the second quarter ended with an offensive rebound and layup just before the halftime buzzer to make it 44-30 Big Red at the intermission. Westmeyer matched Jefferson with 16 points in the first half while Jefferson accounted for more than half of her team's total at the break.

Denison shot 12-for-23 (52.2 percent) from the field in the decisive second quarter while doubling up Oberlin 28-14 on the scoreboard. In all for the first half, Denison outrebounded Oberlin 8-3 on the offensive glass and led 12-2 on second chance points, 14-2 on points off turnovers, and a whopping 26-2 on bench points, all but 10 of which came from Westmeyer.

It was a slow start to the third quarter with Denison scoring six of the first eight points of the period and leading by 18 points (50-32) on a layup by Kress hallway through.

The Big Red limited the Yeowomen to 4-for-11 shooting (36.4 percent) in both the third and fourth quarters.

Although it got down to 10 points multiple times in the fourth quarter, Denison's lead never dipped into single digits in the second half.

Westmeyer's 21 points surpassed her previous career-high of 20 points set against Oberlin last Saturday. To go along with her 21 points, Westmeyer added a team-high seven rebounds and had four assists, two steals and two blocks.

In addition to Westmeyer's and Kress' big nights, Abby Cooch scored 11 points and matched Westmeyer with seven boards while Ada Taute added seven points and contributed with a career-high six assists and four steals as well.

For Oberlin, Jefferson finished with a new career-high of 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the field and a 7-for-10 mark from the free throw line.

The Big Red (20-6 overall) will now advance to the NCAC Tournament semifinals where they will face top-seeded DePauw University (19-7) at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 23, in Greencastle, Indiana. The 20 wins are Denison's most in a single season since the 2015-16 campaign.

Denison was the first team to hand DePauw a loss in conference action this season, winning 54-48 at home on January 17. The calling card for the Big Red to earn the win was defense and rebounding as Denison finished the game with a 55-36 advantage on the boards overall and a 20-10 advantage on the offensive glass, and outscored DePauw 38-20 in the paint. Taute finished with a game-high 14 points in that matchup while Kress finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and Cooch stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.