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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein women's basketball team improved to 6-3 on the season Friday night, pulling away to comfortably topple visiting Wilmington by a score of 88-67 inside the Rike Center.

The Cardinals, now having won six of the past seven meetings in the series, dropped a combined 81 points across three quarters while overcoming a cold second frame. Wilmington falls to 4-5 overall this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Otterbein shot 75 percent (12 of 16) from the field in the first quarter, getting out in transition to drop a very healthy 29 points .
   
• Things were much different for the Cardinals in the next quarter, posting just seven points and going scoreless over the final 4:23. That cold stretch allowed Wilmington to only trail 36-33 entering the break.
   
• Otterbein soon got going again behind speedster Katie McCrary. The freshman guard, scoring just two points in the first half due to foul trouble, dropped 11 in the third period as her team built a 60-51 advantage.
   
• The game was effectively put away in the early stages of the fourth quarter, where the Cardinals opened on a lopsided 19-3 run across four minutes of game time.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Jenna Hoschouer looked like she might flirt with a triple-double as the game progressed. She ultimately finished with 20 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and five assists on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting.
   
• McCrary scored 16 of her 18 after intermission while classmate Tamia Kendrick went for 13 points, four assists, four rebounds and two steals.
   
• Otterbein shot 54 percent as a unit compared to just  36.5 percent on the Quaker side.
   
• The Cards were effective all over the court, making 10 trifectas but also holding a 46-32 scoring edge in the paint.
   
• Two Wilmington players scored a team-high 11 points for head coach Janel Blankespoor, an Otterbein alum back at her alma mater on her birthday.

 
UP NEXT:

The rematch will take place Saturday evening down south, with the Quakers playing host inside the Fred Raizk Arena at 6 p.m.