COLUMBUS, Ohio — A furious rally that forced a pair of overtime periods ended two points short as the Wittenberg Tigers dropped an 85-83 decision to Capital in non-conference Martin Luther King Jr. Day action.
The loss dropped the Tigers back below .500 overall at 6-7, heading into key North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) games later this week at Earlham and Ohio Wesleyan. Capital, which dropped out of the national rankings this week for the first time in the 2007-08 season, snapped a three-game losing streak the hard way to improve to 11-5.
Wittenberg trailed throughout regulation before finally forging the game's first tie at 69-69 on a lay-up by senior post Ali Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame)with 25 seconds left. Capital led 38-24 at halftime, but the Tigers whittled the lead down slowly throughout the final 20 minutes despite foul problems that plagued several key players, including leading scorer and rebounder Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit).
Rohlfs was one of several players to pick up the slack as she poured in a career-high 22 points in the game, bettering her previous best of 18 points on Dec. 17, 2005, against DePauw. She scored 20 of those points after halftime, including a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
A key player for Wittenberg in the overtime periods was sophomore wing Carrie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley). She scored four points in the first overtime, including a short jumper that tied the score in the closing seconds. She finished the game with 13 points, one short of her career-high, four assists and six rebounds in the first starting assignment of her collegiate career.
In the second overtime, the Tigers were finally unable to rally. A tying shot attempt by sophomore post Stephanie Boardman (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) at the buzzer caromed off the rim.
The Tigers, who shot 47 percent from the field, had four players reach double figures in scoring. Gregorevich added 16 points and six rebounds before fouling out midway through the first overtime and sophomore guard Victoria Leali (Jackson, Ohio/Jackson) contributed 11 points. Unfortunately, Wittenberg was outrebounded 47-38 and was unable to contain Capital's Caitlin Elsass, who finished 10-of-15 from the field and 10-of-15 from the free throw line to finish with 30 points to lead five Crusaders in double figures.