By Noah Gurzenski | Staff Writer
This past Saturday, the Kenyon women’s basketball team closed out their regular season with a 69-45 victory over the College of Wooster.
With the win, Kenyon locked in the number four seed for the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournament.
In their quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday night, Kenyon coasted past Wittenberg University 78-58 to advance to the conference semifinals against No. 4 DePauw University this Friday, Feb. 28.
Co-Captain Maureen Hirt ’14 had a career night against Wittenberg and was awarded the game ball for breaking Kenyon’s all-time scoring record at the start of the second half.
During the Wooster game on Saturday, Kenyon’s defense dominated in the first half, holding Wooster to 15 points and a shooting percentage of just 15.4 percent from the floor.
On the other side of the court, Kenyon shot 46.2 percent from the floor and 56.3 percent from beyond the arc to establish a 37-15 lead at halftime and coasted to the win.
Holding the number four seed going into NCAC tournament play, Kenyon hosted their quarterfinal match up against Wittenberg on Tuesday night.
Kenyon asserted themselves early on against Wittenberg through a combination of fluid ball movement and aggressive rebounding.
Wittenberg tried to chip away and inch closer to Kenyon, but the Ladies always had an answer at the offensive end of the court.
“I thought we moved the ball really well,” Head Coach Suzanne Helfant said, in reference to her team’s offensive play against Wittenberg. “I thought we shared the ball really well, I thought we shot incredibly well. I think there were a number of different people that stepped up in the first half and made some really nice things happen offensively and took some pressure off our usual suspects, Maureen [Hirt] and [Co-Captain] Maggie [Boelter ’14].”
The Ladies kept the momentum rolling in the second half and expanded upon their lead.
Barely into the second half, Hirt drove toward the hoop from the left post and laid the ball up to break Kenyon’s all-time scoring record of 1,794 points, set by Kim Graf ’97.
“It feels really, really good; I mean, I’m just glad we got that team win,” Hirt said following the game. “Winning in the quarterfinals in your home court game is just an amazing feeling and breaking the record here is just really special.”
With the win, Kenyon will travel to Greencastle, Ind. to face the tournament’s number one seed DePauw in a rematch of last year’s NCAC championship matchup. The winner will then play in the NCAC championship on Saturday, March 1.