DENISON, Ohio - The Wittenberg women's basketball team became the first this season to hold Denison under 60 points, taking their first victory off the Big Red since Jan. 2008 and putting a stop to their 10-game winning streak.
A career game from junior wing Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) and a rebounding exhibition in the second half sealed the deal as the Tigers moved to 5-6 overall. The win preserves the Tigers' claim to first place in the NCAC at 3-0 in league play, shared only with Ohio Wesleyan, who downed Wooster Tuesday night.
Junior Katherine Hueter could not be stopped in the first half, pouring in 18 points to eclipse her career game-high of 16 in just one period. She went 8-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-3 from long range in the first period as the main instrument in taking a nine-point, 37-28 lead into the locker room.
The points kept coming for Hueter, who eventually finished with 29, and she also tied a career high in rebounds with 14, bringing the count to three different categories for career-bests. Her point total also marks the team's best individual performance of the season.
Senior post Stephanie Boardman (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) took over in the second half to join Hueter above the 20-point threshold. To date, Boardman was just 14-of-32 from the free throw line, but finally came alive with an 8-for-9 outing from the stripe. That was on top of seven field goals to tally 22 points on the night. She also pulled in nine rebounds.
Wittenberg, tops in the conference in rebounding margin at +8.3, earned the rank again with a +13 margin against the Big Red, built in the second half alone after a -2 margin in the first.
Junior wing Carrie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) was the third Tiger in double figures with 11 points and four rebounds in a limited 15 minutes of play, thanks to second half foul trouble.
As a team, the Tigers committed just 14 turnovers, tied for the best mark of the season. They kept Denison to just 30.9-percent from the floor, and held leading scorer Shaina Kaiser (17.9 points per game) to just six points. Wittenberg shot 41.4-percent from the field and was 16-of-20 from the free throw line, the best performance this year.
The Tigers will next host Hiram on Friday, Jan. 8, at 7:30 p.m., and the next day square off with Allegheny at 2 p.m.
Written by: John Strawn '07