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Haley Warden

The Wittenberg University women's basketball team is now officially in the driver's seat of the 2003-04 North Coast Athletic Conference regular season race. With three games to play, the Tigers hold an insurmountable three-game lead after sweeping three road games last week against Ohio Wesleyan, Allegheny and Hiram.

The wins improved the Tigers to 17-5 overall, running that win streak to 13 straight, and 13-0 in the NCAC, running the regular season win streak to 33 in a row spanning more than two full years. Wittenberg clinched a share of the NCAC regular season crown for the third straight year and the 10th time in the last 15 years.

Against second-place Allegheny, the Tigers were forced to rally from a 14-point first-half deficit before coming up with the goods, carrying their only lead of the game through to the conclusion and a 64-57 win.

Allegheny led for the first 22:38 before the Tigers took their first lead of the game on a free throw by senior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill) - followed by a four-point play as Warden was fouled on a good three-point attempt, capping an 21-3 run that erased a 28-14 Gators lead and gave Wittenberg a 35-31 advantage. The Tigers extended the lead to as much as nine points in the second half and then had to hang on, making their last seven foul shots as Allegheny made a big charge in the waning moments.

Wittenberg got another outstanding performance from Warden, the team's leading scorer and rebounder. She scored 14 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end. The key to the win was free throw shooting as Wittenberg took advantage of 28 Allegheny fouls to hit 30-of-41 shots from the free throw line. The 30 free throws made is a school record, breaking the previous high of 27, while the 41 attempts is one short of the school record of 42.

Senior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia) led all scorers with 20 points, including 6-of-7 from the foul line. Junior guard Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) chipped in with 12 points off the bench, 10 of which were earned at the charity stripe.

Interestingly, the Tigers missed all seven three-point attempts in the game. The last time Wittenberg was held without a three-pointer was Dec. 3, 2000, at Thomas More. Since that 88-55 victory, the Tigers had made at least one trey in each of 95 straight games.

Against Hiram on Saturday, the Tigers capped the most challenging week of the 2003-04 season with a 61-44 victory.

The Tigers never trailed in the game, but that doesn't mean it was the customary lop-sided Wittenberg win against the Terriers. Hiram pushed the game into single-digit deficits on two occasions in the last 10 minutes, but the Tigers did what they have almost all season, hit the big shots at the right times late in games while nursing a lead. Wittenberg scored the last six points of the game in the final two minutes to close things out in style.

Wittenberg was paced by Schmid, who posted a career-high 19 points and added eight rebounds, one short of her career high, all accomplished in just 22 minutes off the bench. Warden added 11 points and five rebounds and Bishop chipped in with 11 points as well. The Tigers won the rebounding battle 41-25, but they struggled from the three-point line for a second straight game, hitting just 1-of-13.

The Tigers can lay claim to the regular season title outright with a win on Saturday at Wooster. The team has already assured itself of home court advantage in the upcoming NCAC Tournament for a third consecutive year.