ALLIANCE, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers took on their third Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) heavyweight in as many weeks of the 2010-11 season, but it was no charm. Much like earlier home defeats against Baldwin-Wallace and Capital, the Tigers were unable to come up with the big plays at crunch time of the second half in a 75-62 loss at Mount Union.
The Tigers are now 0-3 against the OAC but 2-3 overall, heading into the start of North Coast Athletic Conference play on Saturday at Allegheny. Mount Union is now 4-0.
Wittenberg led for most of the first half, pushing the advantage out to a high of seven points on a lay-up by junior Lauren Cassel (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) with 6:05 on the clock. However, Mount Union outscored the Tigers 13-5 to take a 38-37 lead into the locker room at halftime. Over the final 20 minutes, the Purple Raiders outscored Wittenberg by 12, thanks in large part to 3-of-11 shooting from the free throw line by the Tigers.
For the game, Wittenberg shot 45 percent from the field, including a strong 8-of-19 from three-point range. The two teams pulled down matching totals of 34 rebounds, but the biggest difference in the game was 21 Wittenberg turnovers, compared to 11 for Mount Union.
Cassel played a game-high 39 minutes in the contest, finishing with a strong stat line of five points, five rebounds and six assists against just one turnover. Junior Sarah Watson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) was limited to just 18 minutes due to foul trouble, but she still poured in a game-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds. Senior Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) added 13 points, four rebounds, three assits and two steals, while sophomore Kim Replogle (Houston, Ohio/Houston) made her first start of the season a stellar one with 12 points and nine boards in 34 minutes.