GREENCASTLE, Ind. — Through nearly 26 minutes of basketball, the dueling Wittenberg and DePauw Tigers battled to a near standoff. The defending national champion finished the game strong, however, using a 23-5 run midway through the second half to pull out a deceiving 92-69 victory.
DePauw, ranked seventh in the nation, improved to 6-1 on the 2007-08 season with its 16th straight home win and 35th consecutive regular season home victory. Wittenberg dropped to 2-2 on the young season.
After falling behind by as many as nine points in the first half, Wittenberg was the team that took momentum into the halftime locker room as the Tigers ended the opening 20 minutes on a 15-6 run. Wittenberg rebounded from the two-point halftime deficit to take a three-point lead early in the second half. But DePauw, with all five players scoring in double figures in the game, broke a 53-53 tie with 14:16 left with a 12-point burst over just 2:29.
Wittenberg shot a solid 50 percent in the first half, but DePauw topped that with a blistering 59 percent in the final 20 minutes. The DePauw Tigers also committed just three turnovers in the second half, part of a 12-turnover effort for the game, compared to 21 for the Wittenberg Tigers. Coupled with a 48-35 DePauw advantage on the boards, the visitors wound up attempting 21 less shots from the field in the game.
After a balanced effort in the first half, the Tigers were pretty much a one-person show on offense in the second half as senior post Katie Gregorevich (Northfield, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) had 15 of her game-high 24 points. Kohlruss grabbed seven rebounds. She hit 9-of-13 shots from the field, including a perfect 2-of-2 from three-point range, and added six rebounds and three steals. Freshman guard Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) dished out a team-best five assists, while sophomore post Rachel Kohlruss (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) led the Tigers with three blocked shots and seven rebounds.