Box Score The Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team defeated the College of Wooster 94-46 on Sunday afternoon to wrap up play at the Nan Nicholas Classic in Wooster, Ohio. With the win, the Spartans improved to 5-1 overall, marking the team's best start through six games since the 2009-10 season.
It is just the sixth time in team history that CWRU has won at least five of its first six games, along with the 1974-75, 2001-02, 2006-07, 2008-09, and 2009-10 seasons.
Wooster dropped to 1-3 following the loss.
Junior forward Kayla Characklis was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, finishing Sunday's win with 12 points and five rebounds in 11 minutes, just a day after recording a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. First-year guard/forward Emily Plachta scored 10 points and added five rebounds, earning a place on the All-Tournament Team.
Sophomore guard Lucy Vanderbeck led all CWRU players with a career-best 14 points off the bench, while junior guard Kennedy Boone-Sautter scored a career-high 13 points with three rebounds and four assists. Sophomore forward Evie Miller scored eight points, collected nine rebounds, and matched her own school record for the third time with seven blocked shots.
As a team, the Spartans shot a season-high 46.4% (29-84), dished out a season-best 25 assists, and blocked a season-high 11 shots, tied for the third-most in a game in team history.
CWRU grabbed an 8-6 lead on a layup by Characklis at the 6:01 mark in the first quarter and never trailed again in the game. The Spartans finished the first quarter on a 25-7 run to go ahead 29-13 by the end of the frame, and then outscored the Scots 27-9 in the second quarter to take a 56-22 lead at halftime. CWRU went on to lead by as many as 49 points in the game, going ahead 88-39 with 3:40 left in the fourth quarter on a three-point shot by first-year guard Emi Hutter-DeMarco.
CWRU finished the game with a 54-11 edge in bench points, a 54-22 advantage in points in the paint, and a 16-2 difference in fastbreak points. The Spartans also forced 23 turnovers in the game while committing just seven of their own.
The Spartans will be back in action on Tuesday, wrapping up a six-game road swing with a 7:00 p.m. game at 19th-ranked Marietta.
