ALLIANCE, Ohio -- Lauren Forquer (North Canton/Green) scored a career-high 21 points as Mount Union's nationally ranked women's basketball team clinched the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season championship with a 67-60 win over Baldwin-Wallace on Wednesday at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.
The OAC crown is the Purple Raiders' second in their history; the first happened in 1998. Mount Union (21-3, 14-3), which is ranked 17th by ESPN/USA Today and 19th by D3Hoops.com, will be seeded No. 1 in the OAC Tournament.
Amanda Rose (Uniontown/Green) added 11 points and eight rebounds, Rosa LaMattina (Westlake/Westlake) dished five assists and Taylor Hartung (Canton/Massillon Perry) made three blocks for the Raiders, who trailed by six on four different occasions.
Down 35-29 with 16:47 left in the game, the Raiders scored seven straight points -- culminating with a 3-pointer by Katie Crider (Brunswick/Brunswick) -- to take their first lead of the second half at 36-35.
The Yellow Jackets battled back with a short 4-0 burst, taking a 39-36 advantage. The visitors led only once more, at 41-40, before Mount Union exploded for a 10-point run.
Crider buried another trey during the outburst, which was finished off when LaMattina drained a 3, putting the Raiders up 50-41 with 5:03 remaining.
The Raiders forged their largest lead -- 56-44 -- with 3:31 left.
B-W (17-7, 12-5) trimmed its deficit to 65-60 with 12 seconds left, but could not pull any closer.
The Jackets were led by Amanda Schroeder, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Jessica Lairson and Lexi Rohrbach also had seven boards, Rachel Rossman made four assists and Natalia Simovic contributed five blocks.
The Purple Raiders will wrap up their regular season on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tip-off against Heidelberg (1-23, 0-17).
Next Tuesday, Mount Union will open up OAC Tournament play against Otterbein (11-13, 7-10), who clinched the eighth seed with a 67-65 win over Heidelberg on Wednesday.
Courtesy: Mount Union Sports Information
