The College of Wooster women's basketball team was looking to defeat DePauw University on Saturday for just the second time in program history to earn a sport in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.

However, while the Scots battled, they saw their goal fall short in a 74-66 defeat.

DePauw's Riley Mont was stellar for the Tigers, who were playing a starter down, finishing with 23 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. She bested her season average just 20 minutes in with 16 points at halftime. 

Meanwhile, Wooster had extra incentive with senior day activities honoring its three seniors in Ella Dean, Ella Biondi and player-coach Chloe Pordash.

Both Dean and Biondi created key plays. Dean finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, and Biondi finished with seven points and four rebounds, going 2-of-2 from the floor.
Sophomore Mackenzie Riccitelli led Wooster with 19 points, including 15 in the second half. Junior Abby Henegar was two points shy of her career-high at 15 points, going 3-of-5 from range.

Junior Ace Sturdivant added nine points and eight assists, and first-year Pink Sturdivant contributed seven points and four rebounds.

DePauw started the game with an 8-0 run before Riccitelli got Wooster going with its first two baskets. From there, Wooster was able to tie it at 10 midway through the quarter.

Another run would put DePauw up seven, but Wooster scored the final five of the quarter, capped by a 3-pointer from Ace Sturdivant as DePauw led 20-18.

In the second quarter, the senior Dean got going, hitting a jumper from the elbow before a 3-pointer from atop to tie the game at 26.

Biondi later connected on an and-1 opportunity to again tie the game at 29. Henegar, who gave Wooster its first lead in the first quarter, did so again on the next trip down, connecting on a layup. 

Yet, Mont was there to answer with not one by two 3-pointers, and DePauw would lead 37-33 at halftime.

Wooster put it all together in the third quarter, outscoring DePauw 21-17 to send the teams into the fourth quarter all tied up at 54. DePauw led by as many as seven midway through the quarter, but Riccitelli started to find her rhythm, leading all scorers with seven in the quarter, including a big and-1 conversion to close the quarter.

In the fourth, Wooster struck on back-to-back 3-pointers from Riccitelli and Henegar as the teams were tied at 61 at the midway point. 
DePauw closed the Scots out the rest of the way, outscoring them 13-5. The Tigers went up by four before Riccitelli cut the lead to one at 65-64 with 3:20 remaining.

However, DePauw's offense stayed consistent. Riccitelli connected late with just under two minutes remaining as DePauw led 69-66, but the big blow came on the next possession as Alina Prusko scored on her only 3-point attempt of the game, giving DePauw a 72-66 lead with 1:25 left.

DePauw (16-9, 9-5 NCAC) successfully got things done down low, outrebounding Wooster 35-25. Seventeen of those were offensive, which contributed to 16 second chance points. The Tigers also outscored Wooster in the paint, 34-26.

Turnovers also hurt the Scots, committing 16 to DePauw's nine. DePauw also scored 17 points off those miscues.

However, Wooster (11-14, 3-11 NCAC) shot better in all three categories. They shot 51 percent (25-49) from the floor, 47 percent (8-17) from range and shot 80 percent (8-10) from the foul line.

In the first matchup this season, which DePauw won 79-73 a month ago, the Scots had not had a single-digit outcome against the Tigers since the 2014-15 season. Now they've collected two straight, trending in the right direction as their season comes to an end.

Of note, amongst the program history, Biondi ends her career second in blocks (166) and fifth in rebounds (713). On the season, Riccitelli scored two more points than last year, with 418 points and a 16.7 average – good enough for seventh and tenth in the all-time season ranks.