Ever since the calendar flipped to 2003, the Wittenberg University women's basketball team has been perfect. Fourteen straight victories, all against North Coast Athletic Conference opponents in the Year 2003, have produced a ninth NCAC regular season championship since the Tigers joined the league prior to the 1988-89 season.
Last week, the Tigers sewed up the title with a pair of victories, although neither came easy. On Wednesday, Wittenberg was forced to rally for a road win over third-place Earlham, 62-49. Then on Saturday, the Tigers clinched the title outright with a 66-51 win at Wooster.
The win over Earlham was a particularly tough one for the Tigers. After breezing to three easy wins the previous week, Wittenberg proved its championship mettle by overcoming a dreadful shooting performance. The Tigers made just 9 of 47 shots in the first half (19 percent) and just 24 of 87 shots in the game overall (28 percent). But Wittenberg did enough other things well to pull out the win, despite trailing 38-37 at the 10-minute mark of the second half.
The rebounding battle went decisively to Wittenberg, 60-45, and the Tigers were particularly dominant on the offensive glass, collecting a whopping 35 rebounds to 12 for the Quakers. The Tigers also did their usual defensive job, harassing Earlham into 25 turnovers, compared with 14 ballhandling miscues for Wittenberg.
Wittenberg was paced offensively by three players in double figures. Senior guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) led with 12 points, junior guard Christina Fischer (Norwood, Ohio/Cincinnati St. Ursula) had 10 points and senior guard Kate Rolf (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll) added 10 points. Senior forward Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) and junior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill) contributed nine points and 10 rebounds.
The clincher came Saturday afternoon at the College of Wooster, where the Tigers romped again and improved to 19-4 overall and 14-0 in the NCAC with one week remaining in the regular season. The Tigers are now shooting for a third perfect NCAC regular season since 1994-95, and their first since completing the 1995-96 campaign with a perfect 16-0 mark.
Against Wooster, the usual suspects led the team to victories again. Rolf topped all scorers with 17 points and added a career-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Campbell added 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in an outstanding all-around effort. In addition, Warden chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
For her outstanding play during the week, Rolf was named NCAC Player of the Week. She was the first Tiger player all season to garner the weekly award.