Tigers Upended At NCAC Rival Denison

GRANVILLE, Ohio – After a month of home-cooking, the Wittenberg Tigers found a pothole on their first road trip of 2013 as the Denison Big Red led from wire to wire in a 60-48 victory.

The win moved the Big Red to 8-7 overall and 3-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), while the Tigers saw their record evened up at 7-7 overall to go along with 3-2 in the NCAC.

Denison scored the first seven points of the game en route to a 24-19 lead by halftime. After Wittenberg opened the second half with a three-point play by junior Amber Rice (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern), the Big Red answered with a 16-2 run over the next six minutes. The Tigers could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Six different Wittenberg players scored at least five points in the game as the Tigers shot 35.6 percent from the field, including a 3-of-18 clip from three-point range. That shooting percentage was similar to Denison's, but the Big Red enjoyed 11 more opportunities thanks to six more rebounds and eight less turnovers in the game.

Individually, Wittenberg's scoring leader was freshman Carli Swartz (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Lower Merion), who hit 4-of-5 shots from the field and 2-of-3 from the free throw line to finish with a career-best 10 points. Sophomore Amber Lara (Oak Park, Ill./River Forest) added nine points and sophomore Karen Daniel-Hamberg (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) contributed nine rebounds.

The Tigers return home for a pair of games next week, starting with a key NCAC match-up with Kenyon on Wednesday, Jan. 16, and ending with a game against Wooster on Saturday, Jan. 19.