SPRINGFIELD — The second-seeded Wittenberg women's basketball team cruised to an 80-39 victory over seventh-seeded Kenyon in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday night.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (19-6 overall), Kenyon (3-23 overall)
• Venue: Pam Evans Smith Arena - Springfield, Ohio
• Tournament Site
• Tournament Bracket
• Tournament Preview
• Wittenberg swept both games against Kenyon during the regular season, winning 81-37 on Jan. 6 and 71-46 on Jan. 27.
• The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
• The Tigers are in the NCAA regional rankings for the first time this season. In the most recent rankings, which were released Feb. 18, they are ranked No. 5 in Region VII behind Hope, DePauw, Baldwin Wallace and Marietta.

Stat Leaders

• Junior Jazmyn Gaines-Burns (Bladensburg, Md./Elizabeth Seton) led a balanced Tiger scoring attack with 12 points.
• Senior Jade Simpson (Edgewood, Ky./Holy Cross) tallied 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
• Graduate student McKenna Baker (Brownsburg, Ind./Bethesda Christian) was 3-of-4 from 3-point range and finished with nine points to go with eight from freshman Madi Barnett (Cincinnati, Ohio/Kings) and seven from freshman Zy'Aira Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills).
• Junior Riane Burton (Houston, Texas/Cypress Ranch) added six points and two rebounds, giving her 201 rebounds on the season.
• Senior Evie Wolshire (Lancaster, Ohio/Fairfield Union) posted five points, five rebounds and a team-best five assists.
• Claudia Cooke led Kenyon with 17 points.

The Game

• The Owls scored the first seven points of the game, but the Tigers answered with a 21-4 run over the final 7:30 of the opening quarter to take a 21-11 lead into the second period.
• Wittenberg took its first lead of the game, 11-9, on a layup from junior Taryn Cash (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton)with 2:38 left in the first quarter.
• With the game tied at 11-all with 2:14 left in the first period, the Tigers went on a 10-0 run to end the quarter courtesy of four points from freshman Karley Moore (Tipp City, Ohio/Bethel) and three each from Baker and Miller.
• The Owls scored the first point of the second quarter on a free throw, but the Tigers answered with a 16-0 run for a 37-12 lead with 3:31 left in the period. That run started with a back-to-back triples from Baker and Barnett and was capped by a jumper from Simpson.
• Wittenberg outscored Kenyon 29-8 in the second quarter for a 50-19 halftime lead.
• The Tigers led 69-26 at the end of the third quarter en route to the victory.

Quote - Head coach Melissa Kolbe

• "Any time you can win in the postseason and keep your season continuing is a big thing. What we're focusing on right now is trying to win the day and go 1-0, and we did that today. Everyone was bought in and played hard and played as a team and shared the ball. I'm really proud of what we put on the floor after the first two and a half minutes."

Records & Milestones

• The Tigers earned their league-leading 14th NCAC regular-season title this year. This year marked the first time in NCAC women's basketball history that tri-champions were crowned, as DePauw and Ohio Wesleyan tied Wittenberg atop the conference standings.
• Wittenberg is seeking its 10th tournament championship and first since 2022.
• The Tigers lead all conference teams with 17 appearances in the tournament championship game, while OWU is close behind with 16.
• Wittenberg is now 50-27 all-time against Kenyon, including a 5-4 mark in the NCAC Tournament.
• Second-year head coach Melissa Kolbe is now 40-11 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Cash has 131 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 262 career assists rank fifth in program history. She entered Tuesday's game ranked second in the NCAC in assists per game (5.3).
• Burton entered Tuesday's game ranked second in the NCAC in rebounds per game (9.2) and fourth in points per game (14.3) this season.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Friday against third-seeded Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC Tournament semifinals at site host DePauw.