WESTERVILLE, OH – The Otterbein Cardinals (10-4, 4-1) claimed a 74-54 victory over the visiting rival Capital Comets (10-5, 3-3) Saturday evening in the Rike Center.
 
Eight different Cardinals supplied points in the win but Kyla Irby led the offensive charge with 18 points in 23 minutes of play followed by Mattie Walburn (15) who also hit double digits in the outing. Kiara Hudgins chipped in a season best 14 points and contributed a career-high eight assists.
 
Madilyn Stechschulte led the team with 11 rebounds. Junior Nicole Terry was tremendous on both sides of the ball, scoring nine points and recording a game-high two blocks.
 
The Cardinals jumped out to a quick start scoring the first three points of the contest on a quick bucket from Hudgins off the jump and made foul shot by Irby. Despite the Cardinals early and often offensive efforts, Capital utilized some long-range points to stick with the Cardinals and ended the first quarter knotted at 17.
 
Both teams fought for the lead in the second quarter with each team stealing the lead four times and tying it twice in the ten minutes before the half. A sunk bucket at the charity stripe by Hudgins tied things up for the last time in the first half, 30-30, with 1:30 left on the play clock. Walburn followed at the foul line, adding another point before Irby tacked on three more with an and one layup to give Otterbein a leg up heading into the second half, 34-30.
 
Following the break, the Cardinals used the momentum and made some separation from the Comets. Locking down on defense, Otterbein worked to eliminate the Capital long-range opportunities while continuing to produce offensively and turn defense into offense. 
 
In the final quarter of action Otterbein kept things rolling with continued consistent offense and put up a staggering 23 points while holding the comets to just 10. Irby poured in 12 of her 18 points in the final ten minutes of regulation.
 
The Cardinals held sizable advantages over the Comets in rebounds (48-23), assists (18-6), bench points (37-4), blocks (4-2), steals (10-4) and points in the paint (36-12).
 
Otterbein hits the court on the road next Wednesday against the hosting Ohio Northern Polar Bears. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the ONU Sports Center.