Lauren Tilden (Ravenna, Ohio/Ravenna H.S.) scored 25 points, making six three-pointers, on Saturday afternoon, but Lourdes was unable to snap its losing streak as the Gray Wolves fell to Northwestern Ohio 70-59 at Tam-o-Shanter.
Tilden and
Tara Yurek (Cleveland, Ohio/Valley Forge H.S.), who scored 12 points, were the only Gray Wolves to tally double figures on the afternoon as Lourdes fell for the seventh straight time.
"There were a couple of keys which proved to be costly," head coach
Karen McConnell said afterwards. "We couldn't afford to turn over the basketball and we did so 27 times today. We also needed to make them work for their shot, but they shot 60% in the first half and 56.3% for the game so we didn't do a good job of that as well. Finally, we didn't get back in transition."
Lourdes took a six-point lead early as Tilden connected on three triples in the first five minutes to give the Gray Wolves a 12-6 advantage. Northwestern Ohio tied the game at 14, were able to regain the lead immediately. The Racers finally took their first lead of the game, 24-23, at the 7:25 mark. After a pair of free throws by Tilden, UNOH answered with a basket, taking the lead for good with 6:18 left before intermission. Six straight points by the Racers late in the stanza gave Northwestern Ohio a 38-32 lead at the break.
The Racers lead grew to double figures early in the first half before a 6-0 Lourdes run pulled the Gray Wolves to within five, 50-45, with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Northwestern Ohio responded with seven points of its own, one of two 7-0 runs down the stretch to secure the victory.
"I thought a turning point for us was a couple of inbounds plays where we fell asleep, leading to easy baskets," McConnell added.
Lourdes shot 42.6% from the floor on the afternoon in the loss. Yurek and
Emily Orsini (Akron, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban H.S.) led the Gray Wolves on the glass with six rebounds each as the two teams were even in the rebounding battle with 29 caroms each.
Natalie Billing came off of the bench to score a team-high 15 points for Northwestern Ohio (6-10, 4-4 WHAC), making 7-of-8 from the floor, while Becca Harshman added 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Eboni Adams also tallied double figures for the Racers with 10 points.
Lourdes (5-11, 1-7) will look to end its losing skid on Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves continue their three-game homestand against Concordia (Mich.). Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at Tam-o-Shanter.
