After falling in a weekend game against Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU), the Kenyon women’s basketball team completed a sweep of its season series with the College of Wooster. 

On Saturday, Kenyon faced off against OWU on the road. After defeating the Owls 76-44 on Jan. 4, the Battling Bishops earned a wire-to-wire win on their home court. OWU scored the game’s first four points, before a three from Alyssa Gest ’26 pulled Kenyon within one point. From then on, the Battling Bishops took over to lead by 13 at the end of the first quarter. Kenyon kept pace with OWU in the second quarter as each team scored 21 points, but the Owls still trailed by 50-37 at halftime. In the second half, the Battling Bishops only expanded their lead, going on to win 94-66.

With the Owls’ missing starting center Claudia Cooke ’24 due to injury, OWU outscored Kenyon 46-18 in the paint. Despite the lopsided nature of the loss, the Owls shot a season-high 52.3% overall. Bela Krslovic ’24, who scored 15 points from beyond the arc, noted the importance of carrying that strong shooting performance over into future games. “We can take that momentum on the offensive side into our last few regular season games because we showed that we have many different offensive threats,” she wrote in an email to the Collegian.

Kenyon traveled to face Wooster on Wednesday, with the home Fighting Scots still looking for their first NCAC victory. Prior to the game, Krslovic emphasized the importance of playing strong defense to complement the offense. “[The game] will be won on defense. … We need to play good individual and team defense in order to get the win,” she said. 

Kenyon got off to a rocky start against Wooster, as the Fighting Scots scored the game’s first six points. Despite trailing by nine points on two occasions, the Owls closed the first quarter with five unanswered points to cut the deficit to 15-11. In the second quarter, Kenyon struggled in the opening minutes, allowing an 8-4 Wooster run through the first four minutes. Facing an eight-point deficit, the Owls took over. As Wooster went cold, shooting 26.7% from the field, Kenyon shot 43.8%. In the final minute of the half, Katie Orefice ’23 gave the Owls their first lead of the game with a layup, and Kenyon entered the break with a 31-28. In the second half, the Owls led the entire way, holding a 10-point advantage after the third quarter and going on to win 64-48.

The Owls will return home on Saturday, when they will take on the Wittenberg University Tigers. Kenyon’s record currently sits at 7-14 (3-7 NCAC). With the NCAC tournament nearing, Krslovic highlighted the importance of closing out the season strong: “The goals [for the rest of the season] are to get more conference wins to move up in the standings and really just play our best basketball going into the playoffs.”