The Otterbein College Cardinals, preparing for what figures to be another bruising Ohio Athletic Conference women's basketball championship race, captured a well-played 82-74 victory in the championship game of the Kiwanis-Wittenberg Women's Basketball Tip-Off Classic. Otterbein, which upended St. Thomas in the semifinals on Friday, improved to 2-0 on the brand new season, while Wittenberg, which advanced to the championship game with a 56-45 victory over Albion on Friday, fell to 1-1.

The Cardinals shot the ball extremely well, taking advantage of nearly every open look that the Tigers allowed. Otterbein was 10-of-23 from three-point range, including several clutch long bombs late in the second half when Wittenberg closed to within four points. Otterbein led by nine points at halftime, including what amounted to the clincher by Tournament MVP Brianne Gray with 1:04 remaining in the game and Otterbein ahead 76-70.

"I thought we were outplayed," said Wittenberg Head Coach Pam Smith, whose team has won the championship in this tournament seven times in 15 years. "The difference was their three-point shooting, and the fact that we didn't play tough enough defense on them."

Smith said her team had goals at the season's outset, one of which was to go undefeated at home in the 2002-03 season. That will not be attained, but there still were some positives that came out of the first weekend of live game action.

Among those positives were the play of guards Amber Bishop and Stephanie Campbell, both of whom made the all-tournament team. Campbell led the Tigers with 17 points in the championship game, including a 3-for-6 performance from three-point range. Fellow seniors Meghan Bruggeman, Rebecca Meers and Kate Rolf all scored 10 points each for Wittenberg. Bruggeman had a particularly strong all-around game as she added 10 rebounds as well.

Otterbein, which outrebounded Wittenberg 39-30 and shot 52.6 percent in the game, got 21 points each from Brianne Gray and Michelle Keeney and 17 points from Danielle Holbrook. Those three players combined to shoot 22-of-35 in the game.