Nelson can't rescue Lady Muskies

NEW CONCORD -- Sitting in ninth place of the Ohio Athletic Conference, every game is vital for Muskingum if it hopes to reach the conference tournament this season.

But Saturday's result won't help.

Muskingum had an early eight-point, first-half lead but could not keep the momentum, falling 65-52 to Baldwin-Wallace at the Rec Center. The game was also a part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "Pink Zone" initiative in an effort to raise awareness of breast cancer.

The Muskies (3-13 OAC, 8-15) have a lot of work to do, sitting a game back of Heidelberg (4-12) with two games left. The two play next Saturday after the Muskies head to Mount Union and the 'Berg visits John Carroll Wednesday.

"We hope not to repeat history again, but I think we learned a lesson from them if we face them again come tournament time," Muskingum coach Beth Fox said. "I think we definitely have the cards to knock them down."

Muskingum sophomore post Hannah Nelson scored a game- and career-high 32 points, including two 3s. No other Muskie was in double figures as Carissa Bosch had nine.

Baldwin-Wallace (13-3, 17-6) had four players in double figures including 18 points apiece from Ariel Brough and Amanda Schroeder.

The Muskies came out hot in the first eight minutes. Nelson scored the first seven points, and Taryn Payton's layup with 12:38 left in the first half gave the Muskies a 13-5 lead.

"We came out with a lot of intensity," Fox said. "I thought the home crowd really helped out."

"This is a game that players love to be in," said Amanda Dobbins. The West Muskingum graduate had a team-high 13 boards for the Muskies. "We fought hard this whole game and just came up short."

Following a Yellow Jackets timeout, they answered with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 13. Both teams traded the lead for the next ten minutes, but B-W closed the half on a 6-0 run to take a 33-27 lead into the locker room.

The Yellow Jackets stung the Muskies in the second half, opening with a 19-9 spurt to take a 52-36 lead. The Muskies cut the lead to 52-42 but could not draw any closer.

"I thought we were playing some decent defense where they were not scoring too much either," Fox said. "But they did increase the lead a little bit early and by the time we started to creep back into the game, it was too late."

Both teams were fairly even statistically, but the Muskies made only seven shots in the second half. They finished 18 of 56 (32 percent) from the field compared to B-W's 42-percent effort (24 of 57).

"It just took us a while to get out of a shooting slump," Fox said. "We went on a period of about five to eight minutes where we didn't score too much."