Setting the Scene:
The Wittenberg women's basketball team lost 10 seniors in the last two years, all of whom made significant contributions to three straight North Coast Athletic Conference championships. At some point, even a program as firmly established as Wittenberg's is unable to overcome such significant personnel losses.
That finally happened in 2004-05, although the Tigers were hardly pushovers. After three straight 20-win seasons and a ground-breaking run into the NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen in 2003-04, the Tigers fell back just slightly with records of 17-10 overall and 12-4 in the NCAC. That was still good for a second-place tie in the conference's regular season standings, and the Tigers advanced to the NCAC Tournament semifinals for the 16th straight year before falling to eventual champion Denison.
The Tigers were extremely young in 2004-05, and the experience gained during the ups and downs of the campaign figures to be quite beneficial in the future.
Postseason Awards:
Sophomore post Kathy Hittle (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville), the team leader in scoring and rebounding, claimed second-team All-NCAC honors and senior guard Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson), second in both categories, was placed on the honorable mention list. It was the first All-NCAC recognition for either in women's basketball, although Schmid was a two-time league honoree in volleyball as Libero of the Year in 2003 and 2004.
Super Seniors:
The 2004-05 roster included just two seniors after two straight years with five each. Both were key players, whose contributions were invaluable.
Schmid was a team leader, despite missing the early part of each season due to volleyball commitments. Her senior season was Schmid's first as a starter, and she handled the transition with aplomb, finishing with career-bests of 8.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. She led the team with 24.1 minutes per game and was second with 14 three-point field goals.
For her career, Schmid appeared in 99 games and started 24 of them. She finished with more than 500 points and 200 rebounds, quite an accomplishment for a guard who missed a handful of games each season and came off the bench the majority of her career.
Perhaps most telling, Schmid was a part of seven NCAC championship teams - four in volleyball and three in women's basketball.
The team's other senior was guard Alison Nahrup (Loveland, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame). Nahrup earned three varsity letters after playing primarily on the reserve team as a freshman.
In 2002-03, Nahrup saw limited action, appearing in 18 games. But she broke through in 2003-04, making 20 starts and playing in all 31 games and becoming the team's defensive stopper along the way. In 2004-05, Nahrup ranked among the team leaders in steals and assists as she started 25 of the 26 games in which she played.
Youth Movement:
Five of the team's top six scorers and eight of the 11 players to average more than 10 minutes per game in 2004-05 were freshmen or sophomores, which bodes well for the program as it looks toward the future.
Hittle leads the sophomore class after showing marked improvement over her inaugural collegiate campaign. She started all 27 games and led the Tigers with 9.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, both of which doubled her 2003-04 averages. Hittle also led the Tigers in blocked shots with 24, including a school record-tying five in a Feb. 1 home victory over Ohio Wesleyan.
Also in the rotation as sophomores were Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern), a wing player who also can take a post position when necessary, point guard Andrea Hackett (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) and shooting guard Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster).
Clark-Haggy battled injuries in the middle of the season and wound up playing in 23 games and starting seven, averaging 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per outing. Hackett came off the bench in all 27 games and averaged 15 minutes per appearance. Miller started seven games and played in all 27, finishing fourth on the team with 7.5 points per game while draining a team-high 34 three-pointers.
The freshman class showed great promise, led by the post tandem of Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and Ali Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame). Gregorevich was fifth on the team in scoring at 7.1 points per game and third in rebounding at 4.3 per contest. Rohlfs was third in scoring at 7.7 points per game and fourth in rebounding at 4.2.
In addition, freshman guard Ellie Stonecash (Springboro, Ohio/Middletown Fenwick) came off the bench in all 27 games and averaged 5.5 points per game in just 10 minutes of action per outing.
Steady At The Point:
For two years, the Wittenberg Tigers were in good hands with the pass-first point guard tandem of Christina Fischer and Kari Kitchen. Upon their graduation, the Tigers had to break in a pair of unproven players at that position.
Never fear, junior Brittany Landreth (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) and Hackett were here to save the day. Landreth started all 27 games, and her play steadily improved throughout the 2004-05 season. She led the Tigers with 53 assists (countered by 54 turnovers for a decent ratio) and 59 steals. Hackett finished with 37 assists against 40 turnovers, also a respectable ratio.
The Coach:
Head Coach Pam Smith (Wittenberg, 1982) completed her 19th season at the helm of the women's basketball program at her alma mater. She has a 367-150 career record, and she ranks among the top active coaches in NCAA Division III in terms of total wins and win percentage. The 17-10 finish in 2004-05 marks the program's 16th consecutive winning season under Smith's tutelage.
Smith has guided the Tigers to twelve 20-win seasons, eight appearances in the NCAA tournament and 10 NCAC regular season championships since 1989. Wittenberg has never finished lower than third in an NCAC regular season since joining the league that same year.
A 1999 Wittenberg Athletics Hall of Honor inductee, Smith was a record-setting forward at Wittenberg, a three-time team Most Valuable Player and an Academic All-America selection. The school record-holder for season scoring average, she also serves as Wittenberg's associate athletics director and senior woman administrator.