Rally Falls Short For Tigers In Loss To Kenyon

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg Tigers rallied to within three points of North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rival Kenyon late in the second half, but the veteran Ladies closed out the game with a 13-4 run to secure a 64-52 decision.

The loss dropped the Tigers back under .500 overall at 7-8, to go along with a mark of 3-3 in the NCAC. Kenyon kept pace with No. 1 ranked DePauw atop the conference standings with a mark of 7-1, part of an overall mark of 13-4.

The two teams played to a stand-off over the first 14 minutes before Kenyon ended the first half on a 13-5 run to take a seven-point lead into the locker room. The Ladies pushed their advantage to as many as 15 points in the second half before the Tigers finally found the range offensively to close to within 51-48 at the 4:33 mark.

From that point, however, Kenyon once again took over behind the duo of Maureen Hirt and Kayla Ernst, who combined for 13 of the Ladies' final 15 points. For the game, Hirt and Ernst nearly outscored Wittenberg, combining for 47 points.

The Tigers shots 36.5 percent from the field, were outrebounded by four and committed five more turnovers in the game. There were individual bright spots, however, as junior Amber Rice (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) finished with 13 points and seven rebounds and sophomore Katelyn Haralamos (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) added 12 points and six boards.

Also of note was the play of sophomore Karen Daniel-Hamberg (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) with six points and 10 rebounds. She also blocked two shots.