SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Wittenberg women's basketball has won eight of its last 10 games following a 62-59 defeat of Kenyon on Wednesday night in Pam Evans Smith Arena.
The Tigers improved to 19-6 overall and 10-4 in North Coast Athletic Conference action where they rank second with one game remaining in the regular season schedule. That slots them in second place behind 13th-ranked DePauw and just ahead of Saturday's opponent Oberlin, which sits in third at 10-5 in NCAC play.
However, Saturday's game will do little more than determine whether the Tigers have sole possession of second place or a share with Oberlin in the final regular season standings. If the Tigers win, they own second place outright. If they lose, they share second place with Oberlin but by virtue of tiebreaker criteria, will still hold the second seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
The conference tournament begins Tuesday, Feb. 24, and will pit Wittenberg versus the seventh-place team, Kenyon, in Pam Evans Smith Arena at 7:30 p.m., though the game time should be considered tentative until officially announced by the conference office.
The win tonight came by virtue of a tough second half in which the Tigers improved their shooting percentage by 15 percent to overcome a 30-25 halftime deficit.
Down 38-29 with 14:01 left in the second half, the Tigers rattled off seven straight points to reduce the nine-point deficit to just two at 38-36 thanks to baskets by senior Enri Small (Columbus, Ohio/Columbus School for Girls) and freshman Haley Dannemiller (Cleves, Ohio/Mother of Mercy) and a three-point play by senior Darbie Zirkle (St. Paris, Ohio/Graham).
Kenyon responded to push the lead back to six points before the Tigers reduced it to one, and again the Ladies pushed the lead back to four points before back-to-back layups by Small and senior Katelyn Haralamos (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) tied the game.
Kenyon regained the lead, albeit briefly, before Small hit another basket and sank two free throws to hand the Tigers the lead with 6:33 to go. Kenyon managed to tie the game once more, but a timeout halted the Ladies momentum, giving Zirkle the chance to knock down a three-pointer and set the Tigers up to defend a lead over the remaining four minutes.
Small finished with 17 crucial points but the leading scorer was Zirkle with 19. She paired the scoring lead with the rebounding lead at seven, followed by six for Haralamos and five for sophomore Riley McDonald (Dexter, Mich./Dexter). Haralamos also posted 12 points, four assists and four steals for the game, while Dannemiller finished 4-for-4 from the field for eight points.
Zirkle, meanwhile, stole the ball six times to bring her to 81 thefts for the season, moving her into third place in the team's all-time single-season record for the category. She trails Stephanie Campbell's 2000-01 season total by four and Beth Green's 1993-94 total by six.
John Strawn '07