COLUMBUS, Ohio - Coming off a 1-1 split of their opening weekend, the Wittenberg Tigers faced a tough regional opponent when they traveled to Capital Tuesday night. After a fierce back-and-forth battle throughout both halves of the game, the Tigers fell 55-49 in overtime to the Crusaders, moving to 1-2 overall on the season.
After battling through three lead changes in the first half and five in the second, the Tigers found themselves down by two with 2:18 left in the second half. Senior post Stephanie Boardman (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) drew a foul and converted both free throws to tie things up. She followed that with a lay-up to give her team a two-point lead with just 47 second remaining, but a foul gave Capital a chance to even the score again. The Crusaders converted both, and two misfires from long range within the last 13 seconds kept the Tigers from a dramatic win.
After the dramatic but inconclusive finish to regulation, the Crusaders leveraged their momentum into an immediate lead in overtime. Capital built a six-point lead and held on through the end to seal the game.
Boardman finished the night, her first game of the season after missing both Hope Tip-Off Tournament contests, with a team-best 17 points and nine rebounds. The rest of the Tigers had trouble keeping up with Boardman's shooting, as the team shot 33.3-percent in the game.
A trio of Wittenberg players scored seven points, including senior wing Carrie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley), sophomore wing Lauren Cassel (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) and sophomore guard Allie Leopard (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana). Cassel posted a new career high with her seven points, while sophomore post Sarah Watson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) led the team with 10 rebounds in the game.
The Tigers bring the action home for their first game of the season on the court at Pam Evans Smith Arena in a 7 p.m. matchup with nearby Cedarville on Saturday, Nov. 28.
Written by: John Strawn '07