GAMBIER, Ohio – The Wittenberg Tigers were unable to hang on to a second-half lead in a 64-58 loss to North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rival Kenyon.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the NCAC, while Kenyon improved to 7-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference. The two teams will meet again on Wednesday, Jan. 16, in Springfield.

The Ladies jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the early going, but the Tigers answered 21-9 run over a 10-minute span of the first half. After the two teams traded leads through the first five minutes of the second half, the Tigers went on another run that appeared to put them in control.

At the 10:51 mark of the second half, Wittenberg pushed its lead to a game-high nine points on a jumper by sophomore Karen Daniel-Hamberg (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview). However, the Tigers were held scoreless over the next six minutes as Kenyon rallied. With the score tied at 54, the Ladies outscored Wittenberg 10-4 over the final 2:43 to secure the victory.

Ironically, just two of those final 10 points were scored by Kenyon's Kayla Ernst, who poured in game-highs of 31 points and 10 rebounds.

While Wittenberg didn't have an answer for Ernst on the interior, the Tigers nearly pulled the game out on the strength of their perimeter play. Sophomore Enri Small (Columbus, Ohio/Columbus School for Girls) led the Tigers with 19 points in 21 minutes off the bench, while sophomore Amber Lara (Oak Park, Ill./River Forest) added 18 points. Sophomore Heather Schroeder (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora) added seven points, also off the bench.

The Tigers did a solid job on the boards as well, outrebounding Kenyon 38-37. Both teams shot 40 percent from the field, bringing the game's final point differential down to the free throw line. Wittenberg hit just 7-of-13 shots (54 percent) from the charity stripe, compared to 16-of-21 (76 percent) for Kenyon.