SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - In perhaps their most complete performance of the 2005-06 season, the Wittenberg Tigers overwhelmed visiting Hiram, 81-36, in the first round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Tigers, the regular season NCAC champion for the fourth time in the last five years, improved to 19-7 overall and advanced to the NCAC Tournament semifinals for the 17th straight year. As the top seed in the tournament, the Tigers will host the tournament semifinals on Friday and the finals on Saturday.

Hiram, which lost to Wittenberg for the third time this season and the 19th straight time overall, ended its season at 8-17 overall. The Terriers were the eighth seed in the tournament after posting a 3-13 record in NCAC regular season action.

This one was over almost from the outset as Wittenberg jumped out to leads of 9-2, 24-5 and 31-7 in the first half. Tigers Head Coach Pam Smith substituted liberally from that point, but Wittenberg continued to build the lead. The Tigers advantage was 43-13 by halftime and the Tigers ended things with a flourish, scoring the last eight points of the game to win by 45.

The Tigers put 16 players into the game and 15 of them scored, led by sophomore post Katie Gregorevich with 17 points. She added seven rebounds in a very productive 14 minutes. Wittenberg shot 49 percent from the field, compared to 25 percent for Hiram, and the Tigers owned the boards with a 51-31 rebounding margin. Hiram also committed seven more turnovers in the game than Wittenberg.

Senior guard Brittany Landreth pulled down a career-high six rebounds in the game and junior wing Megan Miller added a career-best five assists as part of a tremendously balanced stats sheet. Hiram picked up 21 points from Cassie Bedard, who took 25 shots in the game, and she also led the Terriers with six rebounds.