---

Haley Warden

The Wittenberg women's basketball team is now in control of its own destiny as the North Coast Athletic Conference teams make the turn and head for home in the 2003-04 regular season race. With a pair of convincing home wins in the last week, the Tigers are now alone in first place in the NCAC with a perfect 7-0 record.

On Wednesday night, Wittenberg got a big game from senior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia) and some clutch three-point shooting from senior guard Kari Kitchen (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) to ease past visiting Denison University, 63-53.

Wittenberg has now won 27 straight NCAC regular season games. More importantly, the Tigers have won seven straight games in 2003-04. Wittenberg now leads the all-time series between the two teams, 39-5, and has won the last seven in a row.

Denison jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Wittenberg scored the next five points and never relinquished the lead again, with the exception of four ties, the last at 19-19 with 7:48 remaining in the first half. The Tigers outscored the Big Red 10-2 over the rest of the first half to take a 29-21 edge into the locker room. Bishop keyed that run with six points, and senior forward Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) added four points.

While the lead never went above 12 points in the second half, it also never fell below three. The key run in the entire game came after Denison cut the Tiger lead to 40-37 with 10:38 remaining. Over the next two minutes, Kitchen drilled a pair of clutch three-pointers, followed by a triple by Bishop. Down the stretch, Wittenberg maintained a comfortable margin thanks to 6-of-7 foul shooting in the final 1:25.

Bishop finished with 21 points and three rebounds and senior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill) chipped in with 15 points, four rebounds and four steals. Kitchen added eight points and two rebounds in 20 excellent minutes off the bench.

On Saturday, the battle-tested Tigers fought their way through a tough challenge to defeat the visiting College of Wooster Lady Scots, 78-70, at the HPER Center. Wittenberg, which owns a 32-5 lead in the series between the two teams, won for the 14th straight time against Wooster.

The Tigers took an early 9-2 lead as junior guard Alison Nahrup (Loveland, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame) dished out assists on three consecutive three-pointers, two of which were hit by sophomore guard Carrie Jones (Greenville, Ohio/Greenville). But the Lady Scots, a much taller and deeper outfit than the host team, came on strong, shooting 55 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes to claim a 42-40 lead by halftime. Wooster led by as much as nine in the first half before Wittenberg cut into the lead with a 8-3 run going into the locker room.

In the second half, Wooster led for the first seven minutes, until Jones put Wittenberg ahead with a jumper at the 13:17 mark. That basket was part of a 15-0 run that turned the game completely around. Wooster closed the gap to three points with 3:28 remaining in the game but could get no closer as the Tigers drained eight of their 10 free throws in the final 59 seconds to seal the deal.

Keying the second-half turnaround were Woessner with 19 points and 11 rebounds and Warden with 23 points and 12 rebounds, both game highs. For Warden, it was her eighth double-double in 15 games.

On Sunday, Warden was rewarded for her outstanding play with NCAC Player of the Week honors. It was the first such award for a Tiger player this season and the first such honor in Warden's career.

Wittenberg is back in action Saturday with a road game against Earlham, one of the preseason conference favorites, and Wednesday at home against Kenyon.