DELAWARE, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers took their biggest step yet toward defense of their North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship Saturday as they picked apart their closest pursuer, Ohio Wesleyan, in a 71-52 road victory. The win improved the Tigers to 9-0 in the NCAC and 14-4 overall, compared to 12-7 overall and 8-3 in the conference for the two-time defending tournament champion Battling Bishops. As that illustrates, Wittenberg is now three games clear of the field in the 2002-03 race.

With the game tied 17-17 at the 5:39 mark of the first half, Wittenberg went on a 9-0 run in which four different players scored in a span of two minutes. That sparked the Tigers to a 38-23 halftime lead, a significant advantage that stretched to as much as 24 points thanks to a 12-4 run to open the second half.

Wittenberg hit 46 percent of its shots in the game, including 57 percent in the first half, compared to 42 percent for Ohio Wesleyan. The Tigers won the rebounding battle 37-33, including 15 offensive caroms for the visitors, and OWU lost the turnover battle 18-15. Neither team shot well from the free throw line as Wittenberg hit 58 percent and the Bishops only 47 percent.

Senior center Rebecca Meers (Moline, Ill./Moline) led all scorers with 18 points as she hit seven of her 11 shots from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. Senior guard Kate Rolf (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll) added 14 points and game-highs of eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in a tremendous all-around performance. Senior guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) added 10 points and five rebounds to the cause.

Wittenberg goes back to work this week on Tuesday in a game at Kenyon and then has home dates on Friday and Saturday with Hiram and Allegheny. A clean sweep of those games would bring Wittenberg within one win of clinching at least a share of the conference regular season title and home court advantage for the NCAC tournament, scheduled for Feb. 25-March 1.