Ladies shut out Gators

Ladies basketball is putting to rest any worries about continuing last season’s momentum. Yesterday the Ladies (6-2; NCAC 2-1) routed the Allegheny College Gators (1-7; NCAC 0-3) at home by a score of 90-54. Griffin Tullis ’18 posted a career-high 17 points to lead all scorers. Four other Ladies scored in double digits on the way to their third home win of the season.

Defense has been the Ladies’ calling card this season. Over the first seven games, the Ladies’ opponents have averaged a lowly 46.3 points compared to Kenyon’s own 65.8. Last year, at this point in the season, the Ladies averaged slightly fewer points, at 64.4 points per game, and their opponents were scoring 62.6 points per game on average. In other words, this season, the Ladies have been scoring more and their opponents have been scoring less.

The Ladies’ only losses have been to Marietta College (6-2; Marietta, Ohio), a non-conference opponent, and Denison University (2-7; NCAC 1-1), which finished ahead of Kenyon in the conference last season. The Denison Big Red gave Kenyon some reason to worry about their offense. Although Denison has had a rougher start to their season at 2-7, its defensive prowess gave Kenyon trouble: The Ladies scored a mere 35 points against the Big Red and shot just under 22 percent.

Still, the Ladies are rolling and do not look intent on stopping anytime soon. Kenyon looks to extend its home record to 4-0 when they host Case Western Reserve University (6-2; Cleveland) tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Lords control rebounds

The Lords basketball team (2-4; NCAC 1-1) won 81-69 over the Allegheny College Gators (3-5; NCAC 0-2) at home yesterday. Phillip Crampton ’18 led all scorers with 22 points and came one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. The Lords dominated the glass all game, with Will Sigl ’18 and Matt Shifrin ’19 collecting nine rebounds apiece as well. With the win, the Lords are 2-0 in home games this season.

Although the Lords have lost four road games in a row to put them below .500 early in the season, their shooting numbers show promise for the games to come. Thus far, Kenyon has made 43.3 percent of field goals and 30.2 percent of three-pointers, both of which are higher on average than those of their opponents.

At the season’s beginning, the Lords wanted to put forth an all-around balanced attack, according to Alexander Powell ’18. Kenyon seems to be hitting that mark. Crampton and Powell have led the way in scoring, but the Lords also have two more players averaging more than 10 points a game. The Lords are also sharing the ball more, with an average of 13.2 assists per game, whereas their opponents have averaged 8.2.

The Lords look to remain undefeated in home games on Saturday when they welcome Wabash College (2-5; NCAC 0-2) to Tomsich Arena. The match tips off at 3 p.m.