SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers appear to be finding their groove at just the right time after they won for the fourth straight time, this time by a 70-54 count against North Coast Athletic Conference rival Ohio Wesleyan.
The win was Wittenberg's fourth in a row since dropping back to the .500 mark overall with a loss at Kenyon on Jan. 30. Since then, the resilient, injury-riddled Tigers have climbed back into second place in the NCAC with a 10-4 record by winning by an average margin of 19.8 points per game.
After a slow start, the Tigers pulled away in the first half and held the Battling Bishops at arm's length the rest of the game. Kickstarted by five straight points off the bench by senior guard Tosha Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/North College Hill), the Tigers went on a 9-0 run spanning five minutes to take a 10-point lead. A 10-4 run over the final 3:37 of the first half ballooned the lead to 37-21 by halftime.
The second half was more of the same as the Tigers pushed the lead out to as many as 27 points midway through the final 20 minutes. For the game, Wittenberg shot a solid 44 percent from the field, including a season-best 5-of-10 performance from three-point range, and 90 percent from the free throw line. Wittenberg also dominated the rebounding category to the tune of 44-26, although the Tigers were uncharacteristically sloppy with the basketball with 25 turnovers, compared to 16 for the Bishops.
Three Wittenberg players hit for a team-high 12 points in the game as junior post Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit), senior wing Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) and senior post Kathy Hittle (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) each hit that mark. Hittle now has 866 career points and the 12 rebounds she added Saturday brought her career total in that area to 692. Those totals are good for ninth on the Wittenberg career scoring list and fourth on the career rebounding list. In addition, Hittle has 99 career blocked shots, good for second on the school list.
Ohio Wesleyan, which was held to 32 percent shooting, including a 6-of-23 clip from long range, dropped to 13-10 overall and 8-6 in the NCAC. The Bishops were paced by Rachel Messaros with 14 points and Kelli Lester with 13.
Also of note, Wittenberg Head Coach Pam Smith won for the 399th time in her illustrious career. She will go for win No. 400 Wednesday against Kenyon in the first game of a doubleheader. The tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. While Senior Recognition Day was celebrated on Saturday, the game against Kenyon will be the final regular season appearance in the HPER Center for six Tiger seniors - Hittle, Clark-Haggy, Johnson, wing Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster), wing Gina Carney (Lexington, Ky./Catholic) and guard Andrea Hackett (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central).