DELAWARE, Ohio — The staunch Wittenberg defense Tiger fans have come to expect stumbled on Saturday, allowing Ohio Wesleyan to shoot a blazing 62% from the field in an 87-73 loss. The Red & White could not match the accuracy of the Bishops, hitting just 27-of-74 from the floor, good for only 37%.
One Tiger able to keep up was senior Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit), the Tigers' leading scorer. She shot 10-of-19 from the field, tallying a game-high 25 points on the day. Her career total now stands at 969 points, good for seventh on the Tigers' all-time scoring list. Gregorevich also led the team in rebounds with nine.
Fellow senior post player Ali Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) came up second for the Tigers, scoring 16 and collecting seven rebounds. Freshman guard Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) notched 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting including a three-pointer before fouling out with 1:16 to go in the game.
The Tigers kept it close throughout much of the first half, until the Bishops' Steffi Graf made two straight layups followed by a lay-in from Laurel Lawson, the second and third both following Wittenberg offensive fouls. The three baskets expanded Ohio Wesleyan's lead from five to 11 with 4:30 to go in the first half. After that, the Bishops never looked back, jumping out to a 15 point lead by halftime and never letting the Tigers get any closer than nine the rest of the contest.
As a team, the Tigers went 4-of-17 from beyond the arc, to negate the 42-32 rebounding advantage they held over Ohio Wesleyan, which managed just five offensive rebounds. Wittenberg hosts Denison on Wednesday in a rematch of the upset win the Tigers posted on the preseason number one Big Red in Granville on Dec. 8.
Written by: John Strawn