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Ellie Stonecash

The Wittenberg women's basketball team has taken some body blows, but like any good fighter, the Tigers can't be counted out. With a roster dominated by underclassmen, the Tigers have shown steady improvement with flashes of outstanding play mixed in and now stand at 15-9 overall and 11-4 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

The 2004-05 regular season concludes Saturday with a road trip to Ohio Wesleyan for a 2 p.m. tip-off. The Tigers are in a second-place tie in the NCAC, two games behind Kenyon, which has clinched first place and home court advantage for the upcoming conference tournament. With a win, the Tigers can finish no worse than third, but a loss could drop Wittenberg as low as fifth and send the Tigers on the road for the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals for the first time ever in 16 seasons as a conference member.

Three wins in the last four games have allowed the Tigers to keep pace in a crowded four-team race for second place in the NCAC regular season. They also guaranteed Wittenberg a 16th straight winning seasons.

Most recently, Wittenberg used a big second half to turn away a challenge from last-place Earlham in a 68-41 victory on Feb. 16. The Tigers took a 20-15 halftime lead, but Earlham rallied to tie the game at 24. The Tigers responded with a 13-2 run, and the lead slowly stretched from there. Wittenberg closed the game on a 13-1 run as numerous reserves saw extensive playing time and made the most of it.

Three Tiger players stood out at the offensive end, led by freshman guard Ellie Stonecash (Springboro, Ohio/Middletown Fenwick), who finished with a career-high 19 points. Sophomore post Kathy Hittle (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) finished with 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds and senior guard Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) scored nine of her 11 points in the second half and added four boards.

On Senior Day, the Tigers send Schmid and guard Alison Nahrup (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) out in style as they defeated visiting Wooster, 64-61, on Feb. 12. As the final score suggests, the Tigers hardly enjoyed the kind of joyride they had a month earlier when Wittenberg sprinted out to a stunning 39-4 lead en route to a 79-43 victory on the Scots' home floor.

Wittenberg led 31-24 at half, but the Scots rallied to tie the game with two minutes left. Junior guard Brittany Landreth (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso), who had a career-high eight points, bailed the Tigers out with the game-winning free throws with 1:23 remaining.

The Tigers were led by Hittle with game-highs of 16 points and nine rebounds. Schmid chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds. Wittenberg won the rebounding battle, 39-29, with none bigger than offensive boards off missed free throws inside the final minute by freshman post Ali Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) and Hittle.

The three-game win streak started with a Feb. 5 home victory Hiram, 84-50. After leading by 13 points at halftime, the Tigers outscored their visitors 46-25 in the final 20 minutes. Wittenberg's starters played just five minutes each in the second half and 11 minutes total in the game as all 15 Wittenberg players in uniform saw at least 10 minutes of action and 13 scored at least two points.

Wittenberg pulled down 58 boards to just 27 for the Terriers. Included in that number was a phenomenal 30 offensive rebounds for Wittenberg, out of 58 total. Individually, junior guard Carrie Jones (Greenville, Ohio/Greenville) finished with 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half, and three rebounds, and junior post Joyce Dindo (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) added her first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds in a team-high 22 minutes. Schmid rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points.

Rounding things out, the Tigers opened the stretch run of the 2004-05 season with a disappointing 58-53 home loss to Allegheny on Feb. 4. After an ugly first half for both teams, Allegheny rebounded from a 23-14 halftime deficit to pull out the win as the Gators shot 58 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.

The loss spoiled Hittle's career night as she led all players with 22 points and 14 rebounds, both career highs. She didn't get much help until late in the second half when sophomore guard Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) hit two long three-pointers - and just missed on another open look in the waning seconds that would have tied the game - to finish with eight points.