RICHMOND, Ind. — A 16-1 run midway through the second half keyed a clutch come-from-behind 58-55 victory for the Wittenberg Tigers at Earlham.
The rally, from an eight-point deficit to a seven-point lead in the span of seven minutes in the second half, propelled the Tigers into sole possession of second place in the North Coast Athletic Conference, heading into perhaps the biggest game of the season to date Saturday at home against third-place Ohio Wesleyan. Wittenberg, winners of three straight, will take records of 12-9 overall and 9-4 in the NCAC into that game, which will have a live video feed streamed on the Internet.
The banged-up Tigers continued to show their resiliency as they got big offensive games from senior wing Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern), junior post Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and senior guard Andrea Hackett (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) and just enough team defense to capture the win.
Clark-Haggy hit for a game-high 18 points, including 14 of her team's 30 in the first half, and she added five rebounds. Most importantly, Clark-Haggy knocked down two free throws with 16 seconds left and her team clinging to a one-point lead after Earlham's Guin Summerton had buried a three-pointer seconds earlier.
Gregorevich added 14 points, four assists and six rebounds in the latest in a string of outstanding all-around games. Gregorevich and Clark-Haggy played 38 and 39 minutes respectively.
Hackett added nine points, including a key three-pointer in the decisive scoring burst. Also of note was the play of junior post Ali Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame), who hit the three-pointer that started the rally. She contributed seven points on 3-of-4 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench.
Earlham, which actually for a higher percentage in the game and won the battle of the boards 35-34, was paced by Shontavia Davis with a game-high 20 points. The Quakers, who fell to 4-19 overall and 3-11 in the NCAC, were done in by their ballhandling as the Tigers forced 26 turnovers, compared to 19 for Wittenberg.