KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team defeated conference foe Ohio University behind
Kaitlyn Zarycki and
Hannah Spitzley's combined 49 points on 6-9 shooting from three point range.
In the first quarter of play Wednesday, the Broncos nor the Bobcats were able to gain a sizable advantage over each other. During the sixth minute of the first,
Alli Carlson managed to grow the women's basketball team's lead to a quarter-best four points after knocking down a jumper from an assisting Zarycki.
Later in the second quarter, WMU was limited to 13 points, and found themselves down by seven entering the break. With under three minutes remaining in the half, Spitzley and
Gabi Saxman would knock down free throws to cut the deficit to 31-30 in favor of the Bobcats. However, after a quick spurt from Ohio, the Brown and Gold trailed by seven points at the break 37-30.
The Broncos opened up the second half with a 26-8 advantage over the Bobcats shooting a quarter-best 57.14% from behind the arch. During the third, Zarycki, Spitzley, and
Artemis Kouki were able to knock down three-pointers to propel the women's basketball team to an 11-point lead with 2:28 remaining in the third. With the three-point barrage, Spitzley would score seven of her 19 points in the quarter. To close out the third,
Jasmine Elder laid in a bucket with less than a minute remaining to give the Brown and Gold an 11-point advantage entering the fourth.
WMU was able to increase their lead to as many as 13 points in the final frame, after a bucket from Zarycki in the fourth quarter's first minute, WMU saw themselves with a 58-45 advantage. Ohio would respond and cut the Bronco lead down to eight points with just over three minutes in the third. The Brown and Gold responded by closing out the third on an 8-2 run to gain a 73-58 lead entering the final frame.
Tip Ins: Tonight, Zarycki surpassed 2,000 career points at the division one and division two levels combined. As for Zarycki's teammate Saxman, her lone steal on the night propelled her to 100 career steals.
Up Next: The Brown and Gold will take on University at Buffalo on Saturday, January 20, at 2:00 PM. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
