2006-07 Season Outlook

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Ali Rohlfs

A year after winning the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship a league-best 11th time, the Wittenberg Tigers are back for more in 2006-07. Success breeds success, and the Tigers have some lofty goals established this year, starting with more conference championship hardware and including a return to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in three years.

The future appears bright for the Tigers, who return 13 letterwinners, including four starters and the team's top seven scorers from a year ago. The team leader is senior post Kathy Hittle (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville), the 2006 NCAC Player of the Year who has topped the team in points, rebounds and blocked shots each of the last two years. Also a second-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV selection last year, Hittle is one of the primary reasons the Tigers were picked to finish second in the NCAC preseason poll and were the top vote-getter among teams outside the top-25 in the d3hoops.com preseason poll.

Hittle leads a strong contingent in the post, where the Tigers got a majority of their points in 2005-06. She is joined by juniors Ali Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame), already a two-year starter who averaged 7.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 2005-06, and Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit), the Tigers' second-leading scorer in 2005-06. Gregorevich came on strong in 2005-06, leading the team in points and rebounds in each of the last three games and finishing with averages of 8.9 points and 5.8 boards per outing.

Rohlfs also has shown the ability to handle the basketball after ranking second on the team in both assists and steals a year ago.

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Megan Miller

There is plenty of experienced talent on the perimeter, starting with senior wing Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster), who averaged 8.0 points per game while hitting a team-best 44 three-pointers in 2005-06. In addition, senior wing Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) averaged 6.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in her first season as a full-time starter. While averaging nearly 20 minutes per game and displaying great versatility on offense and defense, Clark-Haggy had an equal number of assists and turnovers.

Senior point guard Andrea Hackett (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) is a likely new starter after ranking among the team leaders in steals and assists each of the last two years off the bench. Senior Tosha Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/North College Hill), who missed all of the 2005-06 season with an injury, and sophomore Kristin Donawerth (Harrison, Ohio/Harrison) are among several players vying for playing time at the point.

The Tigers' depth took a hit in the preseason with an injury to sophomore wing Rachel Dixon, a top reserve who averaged 4.9 points per game a year ago, but Head Coach Pam Smith, who is 14 wins away from 400 for her career, has welcomed a solid recruiting class that includes several players likely to compete for immediate playing time. In addition, sophomores Katie Gardner (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) and Hannah Scherger (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Lehman Catholic), junior Ellie Stonecash (Springboro, Ohio/Middletown Fenwick) and senior Gina Carney (Lexington, Ky./Catholic Central) are all returning letterwinners who figure prominently in the team's 2006-07 plans.