Denison Women's Basketball Makes History With First National Championship
SALEM, Va. — A national championship is heading to Granville as the Denison Women’s Basketball team completed its NCAA tournament run Saturday, lifting the championship trophy after defeating Scranton 55-41 inside the Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia.
Junior and Virginia native Abby Cooch played all 40 minutes of the contest for the Big Red and finished with a game-high 18 points. Classmate Ada Taute supported her with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 boards in the winning effort.
Both teams traded the lead in the early going, with Denison enjoying as much as a four-point advantage at the 2:06 mark in the first quarter after a layup from junior Brooke Toigo in the paint. The Royals clawed back as a three-pointer with one second remaining in the opening frame from Elizabeth Bennett brought Scranton within one.
Neither team could get things going offensively in the second quarter as both teams combined for just nine points. Denison shot 16% from the field, while the Royals didn’t make a basket from the field — their only point came off a made free throw at the 8:06 mark of the quarter. Following a basket from Molly Dorighi, it was five scoreless minutes between the two teams, with Denison’s Violet Mitchell snapping the drought with a three-pointer just over two minutes before halftime.
Scranton hit back in the third quarter and captured the lead. The Big Red wouldn’t go quietly, though — Taute closed the third quarter with a five-point run, trimming the Royals’ advantage to 34-33.
Denison stepped on the gas in the fourth quarter and proved the moment wasn’t too big.
The Big Red outscored Scranton 22-7 and were jump-started by an 11-0 run that gave them a 50-39 lead with 3:20 remaining. Denison closed the game on a 5-0 run to seal the victory and claim the program’s first national championship.