HIRAM, OHIO – Senior guard Tiffany Shields (Bedford Heights/Bedford) scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Hiram College women's basketball team past Denison University, 54-50, today (Saturday, Jan. 28) in a North Coast Athletic Conference game at Price Gymnasium.

With the win, the Terriers improve to 6-12 overall and 3-7 in the NCAC. The Big Red are now 12-7 overall and 5-5 NCAC.

Denison opened the game by scoring the first seven points and quickly built a double-figure lead, 13-2, at the 12:15 mark. The Big Red went on to lead by as many as 12 points in the first half, 17-5, with 9:18 left before halftime. Momentum then shifted in favor of Hiram as the Terrier shooting started to find its mark and the Denison shooting went cold. Hiram ended the half outscoring Denison, 23-5, including a 19-3 scoring run in the final 6:04 that ended in a jumper by Shields with three seconds left giving the Terriers a 28-22 lead at the break.

In the second half, it would be Denison who struggled early on as Hiram outscored the Big Red, 11-4, and recorded its largest lead of the game of 13 points, 39-26, on a another bucket by Shields with 12:53 left to play in the game. But Denison looked to mount a rally of its own and battled back to within three points, 41-38, later in the half at the 6:18 mark. The Terriers got some breathing room as they increased their lead to eight points, 48-40, thanks to a three-pointer by junior guard Chelsea Kovach (Lakewood) with just over four minutes to go. The Big Red would not go away and got to within four points on two occassions, including a 54-50 deficit with nine seconds remaining. But that would be as close as Denison would get as Hiram held on for the 54-50 victory.

Hiram shot 44.0 percent (22-of-50) from the field as Denison shot 37.5 percent (21-of-56) from the field. The difference would come from turnovers as the Big Red turned over the ball 20 times which the Terriers converted into 21 points.

Individually, Denison was led in scoring by Nicole Coggins with 14 points on six-of-nine shooting (66.7 percent). Lydia Harlan was second with 12 points and Serafina Nuzzo added 10 points. In addition, Jane Windler grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Hiram was led by Shields' 20 points on eight-of-19 shooting (42.1 percent). She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. The other Terrier player in double-digits was Kovach with 13 points.

The Terriers will host Oberlin College on Tuesday, Jan. 31 in a NCAC game at Price Gym. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.