DELAWARE, Ohio - February 22, 2022 – Hiram women's basketball fell to the No. 3-seeded Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops, 59-41 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals on Tuesday evening inside Branch Rickey Arena.
 
The Battling Bishops Molly Delaney got the scoring started with her layup with two minutes into the first quarter, before Haley Thompson evened the score at 2-2 with a jumper of her own.
 
Hiram and OWU then traded buckets, with three-straight from Thompson making it a 7-7 game.
 
All tied up at nine, Alex Lichner knocked down a triple to give the Terriers their first lead of the game, and the Terriers took a 12-11 lead after one.
 
However, the Battling Bishops quickly retook the lead to start the second on Kasey Schipfer's jumper, and with a 9-0 run, raced out of a 20-12 lead with 7:50 remaining in the first half.
 
A free throw by Iyana Smith slowed OWU's run for a second, but the Battling Bishops picked up right where they left off, extending their lead to double digits with a 6-2 run.
 
A layup by Taylor Valaitis cut Ohio Wesleyan's lead back down to nine with 4:31 to play, but the Terriers couldn't close the gap any further the rest of the way, as the Battling Bishops took a 31-22 lead into the locker room.
 
Coming out of the halftime break, Selena Vargas sank a layup to make it a seven-point game, and two free throws by Thompson a few minutes later again cut OWU's lead back down to seven.
 
But the Terriers wouldn't get any closer in the third, and with a 5-0 run over the final two minutes of the third quarter, the Battling Bishops took a 44-30 lead into the final frame.
 
OWU and Hiram traded buckets to kick off the fourth, starting with Maddie Rakestraw's three-pointer 24 seconds into the final period, but the Battling Bishops kept their lead at double digits, leading by as many as 22 in the fourth quarter before finishing off the 59-41 victory.
 
Thompson led the Terriers with 11 points, seven of which came in the first quarter, while Rakestraw added seven. Vargas led Hiram on the glass with 14 rebounds, notching her ninth double-digit rebound performance of the year.
 
With the loss, Hiram wraps up the year at 8-17 (4-12 NCAC), while the Battling Bishops move to 20-6 and advance to the NCAC Semifinals, where they'll face the No. 2-seed Oberlin College.