By Noah Gurzenski | Staff Writer

Going into the home stretch of the regular season, the Kenyon women’s basketball team picked up two critical road victories, besting Allegheny College 89-81 last Saturday, Feb. 1, and defeating Hiram College 83-60 on Feb. 4.

The two wins put Kenyon in a three-way tie for second in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) with Denison University and Ohio Wesleyan University. Off the court, Co-Captain Maureen Hirt ’14 was named to the 2014 Capital One Academic All-District team in recognition of her academic and athletic success during the season.

During the game against Allegheny, the Gators jumped out to an 11-4 lead, but Kenyon proceeded to close the gap, going on a 9-2 run that was capped off by Meredith Williams ’16’s jumper to tie the game at 13. Williams earned a double-double with her performance during the game.

With neither team able to put any distance between the other, Allegheny and Kenyon went back and forth until Hirt, who scored a season-high 33 points, knocked down a three pointer at the 6:13 mark to put Kenyon up by four. Hirt’s basket sent Kenyon on a 16-5 run to finish the half holding a comfortable 50-35 lead.

Hirt picked up where she left off to start the scoring for the Ladies in the second half, completing a three-point play to extend Kenyon’s lead to 17. Refusing to let the game get away from them, Allegheny chipped away at the Kenyon lead with a 16-2 run at the 16:07 mark to bring the Gators within five. With Allegheny on the doorstep, Sidney Cera ’17 made a jump shot to keep the Gators at bay and extend Kenyon’s lead back to seven. Cera closed out the game with 16 points, good enough for a career high.

Continuing to close in on Kenyon, Allegheny came as close as one point with just over two minutes left in regulation, but Kenyon’s defense was up to the challenge. The Ladies held strong during the final minutes en route to the 89-81 victory, dashing Allegheny’s comeback hopes. As a team, Kenyon notched its highest shooting percentage of the season, shooting 55.9 percent from the field; Kenyon is currently 6-1 when shooting over 50 percent in a game.

After taking care of Allegheny, Kenyon took on Hiram this past Tuesday night, hoping to sweep the season series. Tied with the Terriers at 12 with 12:47 left in the half, Kenyon started to pull away, scoring 12 of the next 14 points. Co-Captain Maggie Boelter ’14, who led Kenyon with 19 points on the game, finished off the run with a layup in the paint to make it 24-14 in favor of Kenyon.

Kenyon continued to wear down Hiram’s defense, leading at the half 41-29 after shooting 42.86 percent from the field and a staggering 60% from beyond the arc. The second half was more of the same for Kenyon, who led by as much as 29 en route to the 83-60 victory.

Kenyon hopes to extend its three-game winning streak as they host Ohio Wesleyan University this Saturday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. The game will also serve as the Ladies’ senior game.