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GREENCASTLE, Ind. – Otterbein University women’s basketball saw its memorable season come to a close Friday, falling 68-61 to Maryville College (Tenn.) in the opening round of the Division III NCAA Tournament in a game that featured nine ties and 12 lead changes.
The Cardinals, competing in the NCAAs for the first time, end their season at 21-7 while the win pushes Maryville (24-4) into a second-round matchup with either host DePauw University.
The Scots opened the game running a “Box and 1” defense on senior Hannah Day, but Day tallied seven early points as Otterbein trailed 12-9.
The Cardinals used a quick 7-2 run to jump ahead, and later widened the lead to 23-17 (its largest of the game) after a shifty baseline move from Day with 4:00 to go in the half.
Otterbein grabbed a 25-20 lead after two free throws from Rachel Snedegar, and stayed strong through a Maryville surge to take a slim 29-27 halftime lead.
Entering the game, Otterbein was 19-0 this season when leading at the break.
Maryville opened the second frame on a 9-4 run to jump ahead 36-33, but the Cards answered and reassumed the lead at 38-36 after a trifecta from Allie Leopard.
The game was locked at 46-46 until Maryville’s Lauren Burnett nailed three consecutive shots from behind the arc, putting the Scots ahead 55-46 with 8:29 remaining.
Maryville buried another three moments later to take the largest lead of the game (58-48) at the 7:35 mark, but Otterbein continued to battle and eventually trailed by just four, 61-57, after Leopard connected on two at the line with 2:12 to go.
Otterbein had a pair of chances to get within one possession, but would unfortunately come up empty as Maryville made free throws down the stretch to win.
“It’s always disappointing to finish with a loss, but it was an exciting season from start to finish,” head coach Connie Richardson said. “They hit those four three-pointers in about two minutes to shift the momentum, and that really hurt. We still fought back to have a chance at the end, but that stretch made it a little more difficult.”
Day was impressive in her final collegiate outing, scoring a game-high 23 to go over the 1,000-point plateau for her career. She becomes the 16th player in program history to reach the milestone.
“It will be a nice accomplishment to look back on someday, but I think it really just shows how well our team worked together,” said Day, who scored 473 of her 1,016 career points this season. “I couldn’t have accomplished anything by myself. My teammates constantly worked to help me get the ball in positions to score.”
“Their quick flurry of three pointers really hurt,” Day added. “With a team that shoots it that well, you need to communicate at all times and know where the shooters are. We did a good job for the most part but lost it there for a couple possessions. We were just finding a rhythm in that second half and it was tough to regroup after that.”
Sophomore Tabatha Piper tallied 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, her first time scoring in double-digits since a Jan. 16 outing against John Carroll University. Leopard added ten points while Chelsea Reed had six points and six assists.
“It was such an exciting season,” Leopard said. “A lot of people maybe doubted us from the beginning, but we took it one game at a time and had a ton of fun along the way.”
Burnett and Mackenzie Puckett each scored 17 points to lead Maryville, which shot .456 for the game compared to a .383 effort from Otterbein. The Scots, entering the game third nationally in three-point percentage, made 6 of 11 from beyond the arc in the second half to finish 7 of 21 for the game.
Otterbein, hitting just 3 of 13 three-pointers, was able to finish with a 21-7 edge in points off turnovers while both teams had 26 points in the paint.
