Wittenberg Basketball Standouts Earn Academic All-District Honors

Springfield, Ohio — Wittenberg University basketball standouts Kathy Hittle, class of 2007 from Noblesville, Ind., and Patrick Denbow, class of 2007 from Louisville, Ky., have been recognized for the combination of their athletic and academic accomplishments with second-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division All-District IV honors.

This is the second such honor in Hittle's fine Wittenberg career. A three-year starter and four-year letterwinner at the post position for the Tigers, Hittle ranks among the team leaders in almost every statistical category again this year. A two-time first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honoree, Hittle was the conference Player of the Year in 2006 after leading the Tigers to a regular season conference title.

A team captain in 2006-07, Hittle carries a 3.8 grade point average while majoring in English, with a minor in education. A member of Delta Gamma sorority, Hittle serves on the Student Judicial Board and is also involved in the Pre-Law Club and Wittenberg's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). In addition, she participated in a Habitat for Humanity trip to the impoverished African nation of Lesotho in 2005.

This is the first such honor in Denbow's fine Wittenberg career. A two-year starter and three-year letterwinner at the point guard position for the Tigers, Denbow leads the team in assists for a second straight year in 2006-07. He was a key part of the Tigers' run to the 2006 NCAC Tournament title and the NCAA Division III Tournament championship game.

Denbow also carries a 3.8 grade point average while majoring in political science. He is currently president of Wittenberg's SAAC, serves as a team captain on the men's basketball team, has been a writer for The Torch, Wittenberg's student-run newspaper, and is a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In addition, Denbow and Hittle are both members of several academic honor societies, including Chi Sigma Alpha, the student-athlete honorary.

The Wittenberg women's basketball team sports an overall record of 12-9 through Feb. 9, including a mark of 9-4 in the NCAC, good for second place. The Tigers have three regular season games remaining, starting tomorrow against third-place Ohio Wesleyan University.

The Wittenberg men's basketball team brings an overall record of 19-3 into Saturday's home game against NCAC foe Hiram. The seventh-ranked Tigers are the No. 3 team in the Great Lakes Region currently, and they stand second in the NCAC regular season standings with a mark of 11-2.

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