WOOSTER, Ohio - December 11, 2021 – Hiram College women's basketball fell to The College of Wooster Fighting Scots, 66-58, in a road conference contest on Saturday at Timken Gymnasium.
 
After the Fighting Scots scored the first bucket of the contest, a Selena Vargas layup and a three-pointer by Iyana Smith gave the Terriers a 5-2 lead just under two minutes into the game.
 
The Terriers extended their lead out to five, taking an 11-6 lead on another triple by Smith, before a 12-0 run by Wooster made it an 18-11 Fighting Scots lead with 2:45 remaining in the period.
 
Hiram though, answered with a run of their own behind three points from Taylor Valaitis and four from Haley Thompson to cut Wooster's lead to just two, 20-18, after one.
 
Smith and the Terriers quickly tied the game at 20-all just over a minute into the second quarter, and the two sides went back-and-forth, trading buckets from much of the early going of the period.
 
Lyndsey Stocks made a jumper with a little over five minutes to play in the first half, knotting the score at 26-all, before Maddie Rakestraw found the bottom of the net with her three, giving the Terriers their first lead, 29-26, of the second quarter.
 
The two sides again stood tied at 33 following a Stocks' made free throw, before the Fighting Scots closed the first half with four straight points on Namara Rwakatare's layup and a pair of free throws by Masani Francis to take a four-point, 37-33, lead into the locker room.
 
Vargas got the Terriers on the scoreboard first to start the third quarter, cutting Wooster's lead to two, but the Fighting Scots kept the Terriers at an arm's reach before an 8-2 run gave the home squad their largest lead of the game, 48-37, with 4:26 left in the third.
 
However, the Terriers battled back with a run of their own, pulling within one, 48-47 on Thompson's layup to cap a 10-0 run, before two made free throws by the Fighting Scots made it 50-47 headed to the fourth.
 
Wooster quickly ended their lead out to nine with a 6-0 lead to open the fourth, and led by as many as 11 in the final period, taking a 61-50 lead with 4:55 to play on Jenna Stanton's layup.
 
The Terriers though, put together one last rally, clawing their way back to pull within three, 61-58, on Valaitis' 1-for-2 performance at the line with 1:50 to play. However, that'd be as close as the Terriers would get, as Wooster held Hiram without a bucket the rest of the way, sinking their free throws on the other end to finish off the 66-58 victory.
 
With the loss, Hiram drops to 3-8 (0-4 NCAC), while the Fighting Scots move to 3-7 (2-2 NCAC) on the year.
 
Thompson led the Terriers with a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds, while Smith joined Thompson scoring in double figures with 10 points.
 
As a team, the Terriers outrebounded the Fighting Scots, 46-43, and outscored Wooster, 16-9 on second-chance opportunities in a game that featured six ties and six lead changes.
 
The Terriers next travel to Defiance, Ohio for their penultimate non-conference matchup of the season, taking on Defiance College on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m.