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Amber Bishop

The Wittenberg women's basketball team saw the finest season in school history come to an end in NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen with a 68-51 loss to third-ranked Scranton at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, on March 12. The 25 wins were one shy of the school record and the two NCAA tournament wins doubled the program's all-time total in eight trips to the Big Dance.

To get to the Sweet Sixteen, the Tigers captured the first opening round win in school history, an 81-49 pasting of visiting Penn St.-Behrend on March 3. Then the Tigers pulled off the biggest upset in school history on March 6, taking to the road to defeat ninth-ranked Messiah College, 51-48.

The Tigers, regular season and tournament champions of the North Coast Athletic Conference, won their 21st straight game. Neither team led by more than five points in the game, and with one minute remaining the score was tied at 46. That's when top players rise to the occasion, and senior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill) did just that, burying a clutch three-pointer - her career-high third of the night - to give the Tigers a 49-46 lead with 50 seconds remaining.

Messiah responded with a two-point basket at the other end, and then the Falcons fouled senior guard Kari Kitchen (Springfield, Ohio/Southeastern) with 12 seconds left. After missing two previous free throw attempts, Kitchen was money this time, dropping both attempts to give the Tigers enough breathing room to force an errant three-point attempt just before the buzzer.

Warden, who was named the NCAC Player of the Year and also earned second-team All-Great Lakes Region honors from d3hoops.com, led the way with her 16th double-double of the season as she poured in 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Senior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia) added 10 points, three rebounds and two assists, senior forward Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) chipped in with nine points and 10 boards, Kitchen finished with seven points and three rebounds and junior guard Alison Nahrup (Loveland, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame) had the best game of her career with seven points.

Against Scranton, Wittenberg shot just 30 percent from the field for the game, including a 1-for-15 performance from three-point range, and were plagued by foul problems, particularly to top post players Warden and Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood).

The Tigers led twice in the game, at 2-0 and 6-5, before the Lady Royals took control of things with a 10-0 run and then fended off several challenges late in the first half and early in the second. Wittenberg went six full minutes without a point in the game's crucial turning point.

Wittenberg managed 15 points from senior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia), eight points from Woessner and seven from Warden. Freshman forward Kathy Hittle (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) chipped in with four points and a game-high seven rebounds in 17, foul-plagued minutes off the bench.

The Tigers finished the season ranked No. 20 in the nation, and they also have the satisfaction of knowing they were one of the few teams in the nation to defeat eventual national champion Wilmington. Wittenberg beat the Quakers at home by eight points on Dec. 30.