GRANVILLE, Ohio — It didn't matter much where the Wittenberg Tiger players attempted shots during Friday's 54-49 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal loss to Allegheny. The basket may as well have had a lid on it.
The fact that the Tigers kept it as close as they did was a minor miracle, made possible only by a whopping 50-33 rebounding advantage - including a phenomenal 29 offensive boards (Wittenberg does not maintain records for that specific statistic). Even after making their last three shots from the field, though, Wittenberg could not overcome what had been an 11-point Gators lead with 4:41 to play.
The end result was a 15-11 overall record for the Tigers, who were the second seed in the tournament after tying with Allegheny in the final regular season standings. The Gators, who dropped both games against Wittenberg in the regular season and were seeded third in the tournament, improved to 19-7 and advanced to the NCAC Tournament championship game against top-seeded host team Denison.
Wittenberg managed just 28 percent shooting from the field, including a 2-of-10 mark from three-point range, and a game-changing 48 percent from the free throw line (11-of-23). Allegheny wasn't much better, finishing at 36 percent from the field, including 4-of-18 from long distance. The key difference came at the charity stripe as the Gators hit 18-of-26.
Individually, Wittenberg was paced junior post Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) with 16 points and nine rebounds. Senior wing Gina Carney (Lexington, Ky./Catholic) added 10 points and four rebounds and senior wing Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) contributed five points and a game-high 10 boards.
Allegheny's Jennifer Latronica led all scorers with 17 points, while Katie Kestler added 10 points.