SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Case Western Reserve University Spartans scored the last five points of the game to pull out an improbable 60-58 win over the host Wittenberg Tigers in the championship game of the 2009 Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic.
The Spartans, who defeated Wilmington in the first round by a 68-66 score, improved to 9-1 on the 2009-10 season. Wittenberg, which defeated Grove City on opening day 54-36, dropped to 4-5 overall.
Case Western jumped out to a 12-point lead midway through the first half before the Tigers found their stride offensively to close the gap to 21-19 on a short jumper by freshman Kim Replogle (Houston, Ohio/Houston) with 4:47 on the clock. The Spartans responded with a half-closing 8-2 run to open up a 29-21 lead at intermission.
Case Western again stretched the lead to 12 early in the second half before Wittenberg rallied to take a 49-48 lead on a lay-up by senior Stephanie Boardman (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) with seven minutes remaining in the game. After the Tigers took a three-point lead with 1:12 left on a jumper by junior Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby), the Spartans closed with five straight points - three on free throws by Ashleigh Tondo and two on a lay-up by Caitlin Henry with four seconds left.
Henry was named to the all-tournament team, in large part thanks to her 20 points, five rebounds and four steals in the championship game. Tondo added 16 points and six rebounds, followed by Evy Iacono with 11 points, six rebounds and three steals and Erin Hollinger with 10 points, three assists and three steals. She was named Tournament MVP for her play over the course of the two days.
Wittenberg, which won the rebounding battle 42-30 and actually shot for a higher percentage from the field (43 percent to 38 percent), was led by Boardman with 14 points and four rebounds. Senior Carrie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) added 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists, while Hueter finished with six points, three assists, four steals and a game-high 10 rebounds. The difference in the game from a statistical standpoint was three-pointers - the Tigers finished 1-of-9, compared to 9-of-24 for Case Western.
Dyer and Boardman were selected for the all-tournament team for the Tigers.