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Amber Bishop

The Wittenberg women's basketball team is on a nice roll right now, but the Tigers know they must keep their guard up heading into the biggest weekend of the 2003-04 season. With 17 straight wins in the books, the Tigers are the No. 1 seed in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament, but nothing is guaranteed at this point in the season.

In the last week, Wittenberg sewed up the NCAC regular season title with a home win on Saturday over preseason favorite Ohio Wesleyan and then opened up the postseason with a home win on Tuesday in the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals over Oberlin.

For the fourth time in school history, the Tigers put the finishing touches on a perfect 16-0 NCAC regular season, this time by defeating Ohio Wesleyan, 66-60. In improving to 20-5 overall and 16-0 in the NCAC, the Tigers captured their 36th consecutive NCAC regular season victory, spanning more than two years.

The Tigers defeated their most intense conference rival for the fifth straight time by following their tried-and-true 2003-04 season script - by hitting the big shots at the big moments, grabbing a host of offensive rebounds and forcing their opponent into too many ballhandling mistakes. In the first half, the two teams battled back and forth for the entire 20 minutes, with Wittenberg finally gaining a 29-26 advantage by halftime. Wittenberg broke the eighth and final tie of the game with just 21 second left in the first half on a jumper by freshman forward Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) and capped the opening 20 minutes with a buzzer-beating lay-up by sophomore forward Joyce Dindo (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) off a great feed from senior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia).

In the second half, Ohio Wesleyan worked the lead down to one on two occasions in the opening minutes, only to have Wittenberg stretch it back out to as much as 14 points at the 7:22 mark.

On senior day, none other than senior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill) against stole the show. She finished with her 13th double-double of the season, 15 points and 10 rebounds, and she added five assists and two steals before fouling out in the late-going. The other four seniors also had outstanding games as forward Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) finished with 14 points and four rebounds, Bishop chipped in with 12 points, seven boards and three assists, guard Kari Kitchen (Springfield, Ohio/Southeastern) drained three free throws in the final minute to ice the game and guard Christina Fischer (Norwood, Ohio/St. Ursula) finished with two points in 20 minutes.

Warden was rewarded for her outstanding play with NCAC Player of the Week honors, the second time this season she was so recognized.

Against Oberlin, the Tigers needed a lift, and they got it Tuesday from freshman guard Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster). Miller sparked an early comeback as the cold-shooting, top-seeded Tigers eased their way past the eighth-seeded Yeowomen, 74-62.

Oberlin jumped out to a 6-0 lead and still held an 8-4 advantage when Miller, who had appeared in just 12 games all year, came off the bench and got the offense going. She hit a three-pointer with 12:11 left in the first half to pull Wittenberg within one point, then she dropped a three-pointer at the 10:37 mark to tie things at 12-12. Less than two minutes later, Miller gave the Tigers the lead for the first - and it turns out, only - time, dropping her third straight trey to give Wittenberg a 17-14 lead. Miller finished the first half with four triples and the Tigers wound up leading 29-23 at the intermission.

In the second half, Wittenberg never pulled away, but thanks to the hot play of Bishop and Warden the Yeowomen never pulled any closer than six points in the final 20 minutes. Bishop hit two three-pointers in the first minute of the second half to give the Tigers some breathing room, and she went on to pour in 16 of her game-high 18 points in the final 20 minutes. Warden, the Tigers' leading scorer and rebounder, made just 2-of-11 shots in the game, but she finished with eight points, 14 rebounds, four steals and seven assists, showing off an outstanding all-around game. Miller finished with 16 points.

Wittenberg now hosts the NCAC Tournament semifinals and finals, starting Friday night at 5:30 p.m. That's when second-seeded Allegheny and third-seeded Denison square off, followed by the top-seeded Tigers and fourth-seeded Battling Bishops in a re-match of Saturday's regular season finale. The winners come back for a Saturday night championship game, scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off in the HPER Center.