The Wittenberg women's basketball team wrapped up the 2002-03 regular season in style last week, crushing North Coast Athletic Conference foes Oberlin and Denison on the Tigers' home court to complete a perfect 16-0 regular season conference record and run their overall mark to 21-4. Last Wednesday, the Tigers rang up their 15th straight win by defeating visiting Oberlin, 97-61.
Wittenberg never trailed in the game, but it took a while for the Tigers to really open things up. Leading 39-28 with 1:58 left in the first half, Wittenberg scored the last seven points before the halftime break to move out to a commanding 18-point advantage. The Tigers built on that by scoring eight of the first 10 points of the second half and slowly pulling away to the final 37-point margin of victory.
Senior guard Kate Rolf (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll) found her shooting touch early in the game and went on to score 20 points. Rolf hit 7-of-13 shots from the field, including 4-of-8 from three-point range, and also pulled down four rebounds and snagged five steals. Also finishing in double figures were senior forward Meghan Bruggeman (Middletown, Ohio/Fenwick) with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and eight rebounds and junior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill), who added 10 points and nine rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.
Saturday's regular season finale was more of the same as the Tigers surprisingly crushed the NCAC's third-place team, Denison, which came in with a six-game win streak, 83-55 on Senior Recognition Day.
This one was only close at the opening tip. The Tigers claimed leads of 8-2, 23-7, 39-11 and 50-15 before heading into the locker room with a stunning 51-19 halftime advantage. Wittenberg shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, canned 7-of-10 three-pointers and forced 21 Denison turnovers in racing out to the huge lead. It was possibly Wittenberg's finest half of basketball all season, and it obviously couldn't have come at a better time with the NCAC tournament looming next week.
In the second half, Wittenberg continued to run away from Denison, eventually stretching the margin to 81-39 before emptying the back end of the bench for the final five minutes of the game. Wittenberg was led by Bruggeman with 14 points, Rolf and junior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia) with 11 points and junior guard Christina Fischer (Norwood, Ohio/Cincinnati St. Ursula) and senior guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) with 10 points.
The win capped the third perfect NCAC regular season in school history and the first since back-to-back 16-0 marks were posted in 1993-94 and 1994-95. The Tiger seniors, who have contributed to a 74-29 composite record over the last four years, were honored prior to the game. Along with Bruggeman, Rolf and Campbell, center Rebecca Meers (Moline, Ill./Moline) and forward Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) made their final regular season appearances at the HPER Center. Of note, Rolf heads into the NCAC tournament ranked No. 4 in school history in scoring with 1131 career points, sixth in assists with 230 and first all-time in steals with 219. Campbell, despite playing just three seasons in the Red & White, is now tied for seventh in school history with 211 assists and ranks sixth in steals with 191.
The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday with a game at 5:30 p.m. against Oberlin. Wittenberg, the No. 1 seed in the NCAC tournament, will host the quarterfinal game Tuesday at the HPER Center and, provided the Tigers advance, will host the semifinals and finals on Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1.