Ohio Wesleyan 83, Bluffton 62
Hope 49, Washington (Mo.) 47

Senior guard Pam Quigney (Mentor) scored 10 points during a 19-1 first-half run that broke the game open and went on to post her first collegiate double-double in leading Ohio Wesleyan past Bluffton in first-round action of the Bishop Classic/"Hoops for Hope" tournament on Wednesday at Branch Rickey Arena.

In Wednesday's opener, Hope held on for a narrow win over Washington (Mo.) in a rematch of last season's NCAA Division III national championship game.

Ohio Wesleyan and Hope will square off in Thursday's championship game, set for a 3 p.m. tipoff, to be preceded by the consolation game matching Bluffton and Washington at 1 p.m.

The Ohio Wesleyan-Bluffton clash began as a back-and-forth affair, with 4 ties and a handful of lead changes. When senior guard Tyler Cordell (Columbus/St. Francis DeSales) scored on a fast break to give the Bishops a 24-19 lead at the 7:21 mark of the first half, that marked the biggest lead of the game by either team.

Bluffton answered with a fast-break lay-in by Brittany Lewis with 6:00 to go, but the Beavers would not score another hoop until the waning seconds of the period.

Meanwhile, the Bishops took off on their 19-1 run, with freshman guard Julia Grimsley (Alliance) kicking it off with a high-arching 3-pointer and Quigney following with a traditional 3-point play. Quigney, senior post Kayla Gordon (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville), and Cordell followed with lay-ins before a Quigney 3-pointer extended the Ohio Wesleyan lead to 39-21 with 1:34 to play.

Kim Miller hit the first of 2 free throws to temporarily stop the Bishop tide, but Quigney countered with a lay-in and Cordell hit 2 free throws to give the Bishops a 43-22 lead with :25 left in the half.

The Beavers strung together 6 straight points early in the second half, collecting a lay-in from Rachel Daman and back-to-back layups by Brittany Stegmaier to close to within 46-30, but Bluffton would come no closer than that 16-point margin during the remainder of the contest.

Quigney finished with 28 points and a career-high 12 rebounds to rack up her first collegiate double-double. Gordon added 17 points and set a tournament single-game record with 4 blocked shots, and Cordell finished with 15 points and 9 assists, tying both her career best and the tournament single-game record in the latter.

Daman led the Beavers with 12 points and Stegmaier snared a team-high 7 rebounds.

In Wednesday's opener, Hope broke a 45-45 tie with 4 straight points and withstood a potential game-tying shot in the closing seconds to take a hard-fought win over Washington.

The Flying Dutch had taken a 45-43 lead on a 3-pointer by Liz Ellis with 5:13 left in regulation time, but Kathryn Berger's basket with 3:51 remaining tied it up for Washington.

Lauren Geers hit a pair of free throws with 2:56 left to give the Dutch the lead for good, but Geers missed a pair of free throws at the 2:35 mark that would have extended the lead to 4 points.

With less than a minute to play, Hope's Maddie Burnett grabbed an offensive rebound and dished to Ellis for a lay-in that gave the Dutch a 49-45 lead.

Dani Hoover answered with a jumper for Washington, bringing the Bears within 49-47 with :35 to play, and the Bears got the stop they needed when Ellis and Meredith Kussmaul missed short shots at the Hope end and Hoover cleared the defensive rebound with :14 left.

The Bears got a look at the tying hoop with :02 left, but Kristin Anda's shot from the left baseline was off the mark.

During a first half that saw each team take the lead 3 times along with 3 ties, the Bears broke a 16-16 tie with a 3-pointer by Kathryn Berger and a lay-in from Hannah Cusworth to take a 21-16 lead with 8:29 left, only to see the Dutch answer with a 14-2 run to close the half.

Geers had a free throw and a lay-in and Burnett scored on a putback as Hope tied the game at 21-21, and Allie Cerone's 3-pointer gave the Dutch a 24-21 lead.

Claire Schaeperkoetter hit a jumper to bring Washington within 24-23, but the Dutch collected lay-ins from Erika Bruinsma, Carrie Snikkers, and Courtney Kust to take a 30-23 lead into the locker room.

Berger had a pair of lay-ins as Washington opened the second half with a 7-1 burst to close to within 31-30, and it remained a one-possession game until Hope took the 49-45 lead with :50 remaining.

Snikkers led Hope with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Berger paced Washington with 13 points, and Cusworth grabbed a team-high 7 boards.

Ohio Wesleyan-Bluffton Box Score
Hope-Washington (Mo.) Box Score