SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — It is hard to imagine two halves of basketball being more different. After the Wittenberg Tigers took a seven-point lead into the locker room at halftime, undefeated Hanover roared back, scoring the first 16 points of the second half and racing to a 64-60 Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic victory.
The win moved Hanover to 9-0 on the season, heading into an interesting Day 2 match-up with 7-4 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, which crushed Mount St. Joseph, 79-38, in the first game of the tournament. Wittenberg is now 4-6 on the season, and the Tigers will take on Mount St. Joseph in the second game of the tourney's second day.
In the early going, the Tigers handled Hanover's pressure defense well, scoring the first eight points of the game en route to a 33-26 halftime lead. Wittenberg led by as many as 14 points during the opening stanza, although the stage was set for the second-half barrage over the final seven minutes as the Panthers cut the Tiger lead in half.
Wittenberg was held without a point for the first 9:11 of the second half before juniorLauren Cassel (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) hit a free throw. The Tigers didn't make their first basket from the field in the second half until senior Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) hit a three-pointer at the 9:19 mark to cut the lead back to 12 points.
The lead reached 16 before a Wittenberg rally over the final four minutes. The Tigers outscored Hanover 15-3 over the span.
The teams shot similar percentages from the floor (36 percent for Hanover and 38 for Wittenberg) and the free throw line (64 percent for Hanover and 59 percent for Wittenberg). The difference in the game statistically was an eight-rebound margin for Hanover (including a 20-13 edge in offensive caroms) and a six-turnover margin, also in favor of the Panthers.
Hanover was paced by Molly Martin with 18 points and 16 rebounds, which was two short of the tournament record. Torin Franz added 13 points and Amanda Trambaugh contributed 14 points off the bench, making all five of her field goal attempts.
Wittenberg was paced offensively by Hueter with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, while junior Lyndsey Clark (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) finished with 11 points and nine boards and junior Sarah Watson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson)added 11 points and four rebounds. Also of note, freshman Jaclyn Willoughby (Sidney, Ohio/Houston) finished with six points, four rebounds, two assists and eight steals - one short of both the tournament and Wittenberg's program record.