SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg women's basketball team maintained their iron grip on the North Coast Athletic Conference Tuesday night with a 67-63 victory over visiting Denison, extending their winning streak to nine to improve to 13-6 on the season and 11-0 in the NCAC. The Tigers remain the league's only unbeaten team and, with five games remaining on the schedule, hold a two-game lead over second-place Ohio Wesleyan.
Though the Tigers came out on top, Denison owned a two-point lead at the break after getting out to an early advantage. The Big Red led by as many as seven in the first half thanks to their neutralization of Wittenberg's usual rebounding advantage. At halftime, Wittenberg had just one more rebound than Denison, but evened things out on the offensive end with a blistering 57 percent shooting mark.
By the end of the game, however, the Tigers reacquired their typical rebounding form, grabbing 23 in the second half alone to finish with 40 to Denison's 29. The margin reinforced Wittenberg's NCAA Div. III sixth-ranked rebounding advantage (+11.4). Junior wing Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) led the charge on the boards with nine, while senior wing Carrie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) pulled down seven and sophomore post Sarah Watson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) grabbed five.
The Tigers used the first 5:30 of the second half to claim the lead for the first time, and Denison's six turnovers and five fouls over the next 6:20 sparked the Wittenberg offense into a 13-point run, building out to a 12-point lead with 8:45 to go. Denison recovered and fought back to a three-point, 66-63 deficit with just 48 seconds remaining in the game, but the effort fell just short as the Tigers held on for the win. They finished the contest at 52 percent from the floor, their second-best shooting performance of the season, despite taking a season-low 50 shots. The Tigers also finished with just nine fouls against them, their lowest total of the year.
Senior post Stephanie Boardman (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) finished the game with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, her seventh 20-plus performance of the season, and was one of four Tigers in double-figures. Dyer and Hueter each finished with 12 points, while Watson added 10. Sophomore guard Allie Leopard (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana) led the team with three steals, and senior guard Elise Jenkins (Elida, Ohio/Elida) finished with a team-best five assists.
The Tigers next hit the road for their annual Hiram-Allegheny weekend swing, starting with Hiram at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5, and ending with Allegheny at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6.
Written by: John Strawn '07