Women's Basketball

Shaina Kaiser scored a career-high 16 points off the bench, leading Denison to a 75-66 victory over Allegheny on Tuesday night.

Denison University got a career-high 16 points from Shaina Kaiser (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) and Ellen O'Brien (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) scored all 10 of her points in the final six minutes of play as the Big Red rallied for a 75-66 victory over Allegheny College in the 2008 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

With the win Denison will be making their sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAC Semifinals where they will take on top-seeded Kenyon College on Friday (Feb. 29) in Gambier, Ohio at 8 p.m.

Allegheny College picked up right where they left off on Saturday when the left Livingston Gymnasium with a  69-57 upset victory over the Big Red.  The Gators took a 40-35 lead into the locker room behind 10 first half points by Emilie Simone.

In the second half, faced with potential elimination, the Big Red showed some renewed defensive intensity and a pair of free throws by Kaiser with 15 minutes to play finally tied the game at 47-47.  The two teams would trade baskets for the next five minutes but a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers by Denison's Sarah Perrine (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) would equal DU's largest lead of the night at 57-51 with 8:52 remaining.

Both teams would go on 6-0 runs that covered the next six minutes of play in the game.  With 1:40 remaining Allegheny's Jill Gregory converted a transition layup after Stephanie Wolf blocked a Carolyn Simpson (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) shot in the low post.  Gregory's basket cut the lead to one at 67-66, giving the Gators a glimmer of hope heading down the stretch.

That glimmer was all but dashed the next trip down the floor when O'Brien faked a pass into the paint and drilled a step-back 15-footer with 1:16 on the clock.  Turnovers by the Gators on their ensuing two possessions combined with four O'Brien free throws would seal up the win for the Big Red.

Five players scored in double figures for the Big Red, paced by Kaiser's 16 points off a 6-for-6 shooting performance from the field.  Kaiser also added three rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes off the bench.  Simpson would end the night with 12 points, a game-high nine rebounds and three blocked shots.  Simpson, a junior, is rapidly approaching the 1,000 career point plateau.  She currently has 926 points in 85 career games.

Joining Simpson with 12 points was Perrine who was 5-for-8 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.  Freshman Haley Dahlgard (Walnut Creek, Calif./Northgate) scored 11 points and O'Brien finished with 10 points, nine assists and four steals in 39 minutes of action.  O'Brien, who leads the NCAC in assists with 139, needs only seven assists to set a new Denison single-season record.

Allegheny was led by Simone's game-high 21 point effort.  She was 10-for-17 from the field and also added five rebounds.  Wolf turned in an excellent all-around game, scoring nine points while leading the team with six rebounds, five assists two blocks and five steals.

Denison shot 50 percent from the field (27-of-54) and were 6-for-19 from 3-point range.  Allegheny hit on 49 percent of their actions shots (25-of-51) and were 2-for-8 from beyond the arc.  The Gators nipped the Big Red on the boards, 29-28 but Denison converted 83 percent of their free throw attempts compared to 70 percent for Allegheny.

Friday's semifinals and Saturday's championship game will take place at the Kenyon Athletic Center.  Denison, the winner of the last three NCAC Tournaments, is also seeking their fourth consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament berth.