DELAWARE — The Wittenberg women's basketball team clinched a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship with a 76-73 win at Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon. The game was the regular-season finale for both teams. The Tigers tied DePauw and OWU atop the conference standings with matching 11-3 records. Based on NCAC tiebreakers, DePauw enters next week's NCAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed followed by Wittenberg as the No. 2 and Ohio Wesleyan as the No. 3.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (18-6 overall, 11-3 NCAC), Ohio Wesleyan (20-5 overall, 11-3 NCAC)
• Venue: Branch Rickey Arena - Delaware, Ohio
• The game was the regular-season finale for both teams.

Stat Leaders

• Four Tigers scored in double figures led by junior Taryn Cash (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) with 19 points. She added eight assists and four rebounds to her stat line.
• Junior Kelsey Ragan (Whitehouse, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) scored 12 points.
• Senior Jade Simpson (Edgewood, Ky./Holy Cross) added 11 points and four rebounds.
• Junior Riane Burton (Houston, Texas/Cypress Ranch) finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
• Kasey Schipfer led the Battling Bishops with 30 points.

The Game

• The Bishops led 25-18 at the end of the first quarter, but the Tigers came back to take a 34-33 edge on a pair of free throws from freshman Madi Barnett (Cincinnati, Ohio/Kings) with 2:50 left in the second period.
• Wittenberg outscored OWU 20-12 overall in the second quarter to take a 38-37 halftime lead.
• The Tigers stretched their lead to eight on a pair of occasions in the third quarter, both via Burton layups, before taking a 61-56 edge into the fourth quarter.
• Wittenberg opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run capped by a pair of free throws from Cash for a 69-58 lead with 6:06 remaining.
• The Bishops cut the lead to two, 73-71, with 58 seconds left, but Cash answered with a jumper to put the Tigers up by four with 16 seconds remaining.
• OWU made two free throws with 10 seconds left to get back within two, 75-73, before Simpson split a pair of free throws at the other end to put the Tigers up by three with seven seconds remaining.
• Following an OWU timeout, the Bishops' Kelsey Wolfe missed a jumper with two seconds left, and Simpson secured the rebound to clinch the victory.
• The Tigers shot 55.3% from the field, 41.2% from 3-point range and 81% from the foul line.
• OWU shot 43.1% from the field, 22.2% from 3-point range and 76.5% from the foul line.

Post-Game Interview - Junors Taryn Cash and Kelsey Ragan

Records & Milestones

• This marks the Tigers' 14th NCAC regular-season championship and their second straight regular-season co-championship.
• Wittenberg is now 60-31 all-time against Ohio Welseyan.
• Second-year head coach Melissa Kolbe is now 39-11 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Cash has 128 assists this season, which is a program record for assists in a season. The old mark was 118 set by Delaney Williams in 2021-22. Her 259 career assists rank fifth in program history.
• Burton is one rebound shy of 200 for the season.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Tuesday hosting Kenyon in the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals at 8 p.m.