SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg women's basketball team fell 78-77 to Denison on a late free throw in a North Coast Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday afternoon.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (14-6 overall, 7-3 NCAC), Denison (16-5 overall, 7-3 NCAC)
• Venue: Pam Evans Smith Arena - Springfield, Ohio
• Saturday marked the Wittenberg women's basketball team's Breast Cancer Awareness Game honoring former head coach Pam Evans Smith. The Tigers wore pink uniforms for the game.

Stat Leaders

• Junior Taryn Cash (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) posted a double-double with 10 points and 13 assists to go with six rebounds and two steals. Her 13 assists are a single-game program record, besting the previous mark of 11 set by Yvonne Wilson on Feb. 19, 1991.
• Junior Jazmyn Gaines-Burns (Bladensburg, Md./Elizabeth Seton) led the Tigers in scoring with 24 points to go with four rebounds and four assists.
• Junior Riane Burton (Houston, Tex./Cypress Ranch) chipped in 19 points and six rebounds off the bench.
• Senior Jade Simpson (Edgewood, Ky./Holy Cross) tallied seven points and 10 rebounds.
• Senior Evie Wolshire (Lancaster, Ohio/Fairfield Union) added nine points and seven rebounds. She was 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
• Abby Cooch made five 3-pointers and led the Big Red in scoring with 21 points.

The Game

• The Big Red led 7-2 in the early stages of the game, but the Tigers ended the first quarter on a 15-4 run to take a 17-11 edge into the second period.
• Wolshire opened the second-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer, and a layup from Gaines-Burnes followed by a free throw from Simpson put the Tigers up 23-11.
• Wittenberg led 44-27 with 48 seconds left in the second quarter and took a 44-29 edge into halftime.
• A triple from Gaines-Burns put the Tigers up 47-31 early in the third quarter, but Denison responded with a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to six, 47-41, with 5:58 left in the period.
• Wittenberg took a 54-51 lead into the fourth quarter and extended it to 58-51 courtesy of layups from Burton and Simpson.
• A Cash layup stretched the WU advantage to 68-55 with 6:03 left in the game, and the Tigers continued to lead until Cooch tied the score at 75-all on a 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining.
• With the score tied at 77-all with 34 seconds left, a Wittenberg turnover gave possession to Denison, and Morgan Kress subsequently drew a foul and split a pair of free throws with one second left to provide the winning margin.
• Wittenberg shot 49.2% from the floor and 56.5% from the foul line, while Denison shot 43.9% from the floor and 73.1% from the foul line.
• The Tigers out-rebounded the Big Red by a 44-30 margin.

Quotes - Junior guard Taryn Cash

• On the meaning of Saturday's Breast Cancer Awareness Game: "It's always a pleasure to play in honor of Pam Evans Smith, especially in the arena named after her. She made this program so special."
• On breaking the program's single-game assist record: "I love getting my teammates open. That's my job here is to get them open and always get them good shot opportunities."

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Wednesday hosting NCAC foe Hiram at 5 p.m.