Orefice stuffs stat sheet in Owls’ home win

GAMBIER, Ohio –Kenyon College senior Katie Orefice flirted with a triple-double Monday night while leading the Owls basketball team to a 65-44 home win against the visiting Bengals of University of Maine at Fort Kent.

With 11 rebounds, 10 points and nine assists, Orefice came up one assist shy of a triple-double. Her rebound total was a season-high, while her assist total was both a season- and career-high, topping her previous best total of seven assists recorded less than two weeks ago in a win at North Central College.

Kenyon, which never trailed against the Bengals, got a game-high 14 points from first-year Alyssa Gest, who went 4-of-8 from three-point territory. Junior Claudia Cooke logged another double-double–her fifth of the season–by scoring 13 and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.

While that trio led the way for Kenyon, which improved to 4-8 with the win, seven other players registered points. Anissa Hardy racked up eight, while Bela Krslovic and Mikayla Rudolph each tallied six.

It appeared as if the game was going to be decided early on, as Kenyon raced out to a 21-6 advantage after one quarter of play and then a 40-14 lead by the break. Over those first 20 minutes of play, the Owls held Fort Kent to just 5-of-30 shooting (16.7 percent). 

In the third, shooting woes became Kenyon’s problem. After Orefice hit the first bucket of the half, the Owls went cold, posting a 2-of-16 performance during the quarter. That made plenty of room for the Bengals to score 12 unanswered points. Later, a pair of three-pointers from Fort Kent ended the quarter with the Bengals cutting their deficit to 12 points, at 44-32.

Kenyon bounced back in the fourth quarter, scoring five straight to push the lead 17. The Bengals answered with a three-ball, but they never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.

The Owls ended up shooting 35.2 percent overall (25-of-71), while the Bengals fired at 25.8 percent (16-of-62). With an abundance of missed shots, Kenyon thrived on the boards, out-rebounding Fort Kent 58-37.

The Owls now get one day of rest and will return to Tomsich Arena on Wednesday for their next game, which will be against The College of Wooster. Tip-off for that conference contest is set for 6:30 p.m.