SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg women's basketball team and the Kenyon Ladies battled back and forth through 40 minutes of regulation without deciding a winner before the Tigers hit five free throws in overtime to provide the final margin in a 61-56 victory Wednesday night.
After opening a 6-0 lead to start the game and cruising to a 23-10 advantage following a 12-point run in the middle of the first half, the Tigers allowed Kenyon a nine-point run of their own before the end of the period. The Tigers shot 40 percent in the opening half to Kenyon's 32, but those numbers reversed in the second half.
Kenyon was 40 percent from the field in period No. 2, while the Tigers dropped off to a 5-of-20 mark from the floor. The Ladies used their improved shooting to make up the remainder of the deficit and earn as much as a four-point lead in between five ties before the end of regulation. After the game's fifth tie at 50-all with 2:54 left, Kenyon went ahead on a field goal by Andrea Pohly, but junior wing Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) laid in the game-tying goal which sent the two teams into extra time.
In the overtime period, both teams hit 2-of-7 field goals, all for two points each, but the combination of poor ball-handling by Kenyon and solid free-throw shooting by the Tigers explained the end result. In the final 28 seconds of the game, Kenyon committed three unforced turnovers on consecutive possessions and were forced to foul. Those fouls sent Wittenberg to the free throw stripe four times, where they converted 5-of-8 attempts to generate the final difference.
Against the Ladies' physical post defense, Wittenberg's normal strength in the paint was limited, though 26 points still came from short range, until foul trouble finally caught up to Kenyon in the second. The Tigers converted 16-of-20 free throw attempts in that period.
Hueter hit five of her six free throw attempts in the second half to finish with 14 points thanks to 8-of-10 overall free throw shooting, but it was Carrie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) who took over and powered Wittenberg to the finish. She ended up with a team-best 17 points, three steals and seven rebounds.
Also coming through in the clutch was sophomore post Sarah Watson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson), who hit 6-of-8 free throws, scored 11 points and led the team with 13 rebounds, including 11 on defense to post a double-double.
The Tigers play at home again on Saturday, Jan. 23, in the early game starting at 2 p.m. in a Tigers basketball doubleheader, which concludes with the men's 7:30 p.m. showdown with Wooster.
Written by: John Strawn '07