HIRAM, Ohio - February 10, 2024 - Hiram women's basketball celebrated its seniors, Maddie Rakestraw and Anastasia Lawler, as it matched up with Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon at Price Gymnasium.

Hiram fell to the Battling Bishops by a final score of 81-51.

Rakestraw was honored as part of the pregame ceremony alongside her family. Rakestraw has been at Hiram since 2020, emerging as a key piece of the starting backcourt with a career-high 3.2 APG this season and over 500 points for her career.

Lawler was also joined by her parents to honor her career; the Hudson, Ohio has produced a career year, with 44 3-pointers and over 200 points in 2023-24 alone. She has a chance to become the third student-athlete in program history with at least 50 3-pointers in a single season. 

Both seniors started in a game that was played well on both sides. 

OWU was able to get out to a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter before Hiram cut it back to single-digits late in the second quarter. The full-court pressure of the Battling Bishops would prove to be the difference, though, as the team poured in 29 points in the third quarter and held on in the final period for the conference win.

Hiram was led by junior Brooke Hickman with 10 points and two blocks in her 26 minutes off the bench, while Rakestraw was able to put up 9 points and get two steals. 

In addition to the OWU defense, Kasey Schipfer and Alyssa Griner led the charge offensively with 20 points each.

Hiram will play its last home game of the year against Denison on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. inside Price Gymnasium.