Sarah Perrine led all scorers with 12 points and made two game-winning free throws with 18 seconds left in Denison's 43-41 win over top-seeded Kenyon.

Whether they have been on the road or in the friendly confines of Livingston Gymnasium, over the last four years the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament and the Denison women's basketball team has gone together better than peanut butter and jelly.

After entering this year's tournament field in their lowest seeded position (#4) since the 2001 season, the Big Red was facing a major test in this year's semifinals.  Top-seeded Kenyon College blew through conference play in 2007-08 and was the winners of 17-straight games heading into Friday night's semifinal at Tomsich Arena.

Thanks to some stingy defense by the Big Red that was a throwback to performances of year's past, Denison pulled off the 43-41 upset and will face #3 seed, Wittenberg on Saturday (March 1) at 7 p.m. in Gambier.

DU held Kenyon to just 15 points off 18 percent shooting in the first half and quickly jumped out to a 10 point lead early in the second period.  The Ladies would battle back, eventually taking a three-point lead off a 3-pointer by Kat Powers with 7:23 to play.  Kenyon would cling to that three point lead over the next five minutes of play until an aggressive pull-up jumper by freshman Shaina Kaiser (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) put the Big Red down just one at 41-40 with 1:53 to play.

Kenyon would come up short on a 3-point attempt by Ann Dugan on their ensuing possession and after a quick missed 3-pointer by Denison's Sarah Perrine (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) that would result in a Hilary Gowins rebound, Kaiser would use her athleticism to force a steal and in the process would get to the free throw line following a Dugan foul. Kaiser split the pair to tie the game for the first time since the 7:49 mark in the second half.

After Kaiser's free throw, Kenyon's Alicia Moreno took a 3-point attempt with just under one minute to go and found the back of the iron, however Laurel Stokes was there to haul in the offensive rebound.  On the outlet pass to Eva George, Kaiser made what would be the play of the game as she tipped the ball out of George's hands.  With the ball rolling loose toward the half court line, Kaiser dove head-first, corralled the basketball and called a time out with 45 seconds left, giving Denison time to set up their potential game-winning play.

Out of the timeout Denison's Ellen O'Brien (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) ran the clock down to the 22 second mark.  That's when she found a cutting Perrine on the left side of the lane.  Perrine was fouled on the layup attempt but was unable to convert.  The 79 percent free throw shooter stepped to the line and calmly drained both free throws to put Denison on top 43-41 with 18 seconds left. After a Kenyon timeout the Big Red clamped down again defensively and forced Moreno into a deep 3-point attempt from the top of the key.  It went off the front of the rim and into the arms of Dugan who provided a last gasp effort at tying the game, but it too was off the mark.

Denison shot only 28 percent from the field but did outrebound the Ladies 46-35.  They also got to the free throw line 13 times and connected on 12 of those attempts.  Kenyon finished the night with a 29 percent field goal percentage and was just 3-for-7 from the charity stripe.  Perrine led all scorers with 12 points.  For the second-straight game Kaiser was clutch down the stretch, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and three steals.  Freshman Haley Dahlgard (Walnut Creek, Calif./Northgate) also scored nine points for DU. 

The victory puts Denison back in the NCAC Championship game where tomorrow's winner will receive the conference's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division III Tournament.  Saturday's game will be made available via live video webcast by the NCAC.  The link to that webcast can be found here: NCAC Championship Webcast