The Wittenberg women's basketball team saw its 2005-06 season come to a disappointing conclusion last week. After winning the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship with a sparkling 14-2 record, the Tigers were upended in the NCAC Tournament semifinals last Friday on their home court.
The Tigers rounded out their season with a 19-8 overall record with a 52-37 loss to Kenyon. Wittenberg, with just one senior in the playing rotation for the majority of the 2005-06 season, struggled mightily at the offensive end against the Ladies, who won last year's NCAC regular season title and were the preseason conference favorite this year.
After a slow start for both teams, there was just one lead change at the 8:16 mark of the first half, which gave the Ladies a 17-16 advantage. In the second half, Wittenberg crawled back to a 33-33 tie on a three-pointer by junior wing Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) at the 9:47 mark. But Kenyon scored the next four points and fended off every Wittenberg advance from that point. Over the game's excrutiating final eight minutes, the Tigers did not score a point as the Ladies extended the lead from 40-37 to the final of 52-37.
Wittenberg shot just 28 percent from the field, including 3-of-16 from three-point range. The Tigers were paced offensively by sophomore post Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and junior wing Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) with six points apiece, while Gregorevich was the high rebounder for either side with eight.
The end of the season came just days after the team's most complete performance in an 81-36 victory over visiting Hiram on Tuesday in the first round of the NCAC Tournament. It was the 17th straight year that Wittenberg had advanced to the NCAC Tournament semifinals.
The Tigers put 16 players into the game and 15 of them scored, led by Gregorevich, who was named to the NCAC All-Tournament team, with 17 points and seven rebounds in a very productive 14 minutes. Senior guard Brittany Landreth (Mantua, Ohio/Valparaiso (Ind.)) pulled down a career-high six rebounds in the game and Miller added a career-best five assists as part of a tremendously balanced stats sheet.