The Wilmington College women’s basketball team returns home 3 p.m. Saturday to host Heidelberg in Ohio Athletic Conference action. It marks the first of five straight home games for the Fightin’ Quakers.
MEET THE STUDENT PRINCES: Heidelberg, playing its first game in a week, opened Ohio Athletic Conference action last week with a 77-60 victory over Otterbein.
The Student Princes connected on a season-high 11 three-pointers while making a season-best 68.8 percent (11-of-16). Their previous season high was six. Freshman Maddie Stiles, after being held scoreless in the previous four games, moved into the starting lineup and exploded for 14 points on three three-pointers (3-for-3) and 5-of-6 from the foul line. Senior Cassidy Frank also came off the bench with a prolific shooting stroke, connecting for 4-of-6 from beyond the arc for a career-high 12 points.
Senior center Marisa Liburdi is the only Heidelberg player averaging double figures with 11.4 points per game, and she is also the team’s leading rebounder with 6.2 boards. Fellow front court mate, senior Carli Patrick, is also pulling down 6.2 rebounds with 8.2 points.
Senior Theresa Jackson is second on the team with 8.8 points, while Stiles leads the team with 2.2 assists.
As a team, Heidelberg is last in the conference scoring just 59.8 points per game.
PRESEASON POLL: Wilmington was picked to finish third in the Ohio Athletic Conference preseason poll behind reigning OAC regular season champion Ohio Northern and Baldwin Wallace.
OAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Mackenzie Campbell is the reigning OAC Player of the Week after averaging 24.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in the two games. She is fourth in the OAC with 16.0 points and in field goal percentage (56.7 percent).
However, she failed to reach double figures for the first time this season in Wednesday’s game against Ohio Northern.
PUTTING ON THE RITZ: Freshman Morgan Ritz is coming off the best game of her young career in the loss to Ohio Northern. The guard was 3-for-6 from three-point range for a career-best nine points in 11 minutes of action.
GIFT OF GIVING: Junior Savannah Hooper leads the league in assist to turnover ratio at 7.0. She is also tenth in the OAC, making 38.7 percent of her three-point shots.
WIPING THE GLASS: Wilmington is sixth in the league in rebounding margin at plus 1.7. There is a clear line between the top five teams and the bottom five as Otterbein is fifth at plus 7.8, almost six boards more than the Fightin’ Quakers.
MOVIN’ ON UP: Senior Brittaney Jefferson has only reached double figures in two of the teams six games, but is still second on the team with 11.3 points per game.
RANKED WOES: Wilmington has lost just twice this season, both to teams ranked in the Top 25. Both Carnegie Mellon and Ohio Northern were ranked 18th nationally at the time of the game.
SERIES: Wilmington has dominated the series, winning 32 of the 35 meetings. The Fightin’ Quakers had a 28-game winning streak against the Student Princes snapped in 2014. Two teams have split the last four games.
THE LAST TIME: The Wilmington College women’s basketball team struggled in the middle two quarters, getting outscored by 19 during that 20 minute segment and the Fightin’ Quakers lost to Heidelberg on Jan. 30, 74-66, in OAC action.
Brittaney Jefferson led the way with 22 points, while Ellie Kivell added 12 points.
Mackenzie Campbell tallied 11 points with six rebounds and a team-high four assists. Junior Mary Moyer pulled down a team-high nine boards.
