Women’s Basketball Falls to Denison on the Road, 59-52

GRANVILLE, OH. – Wittenberg's women's basketball team fell to Denison, 59-52, in a hard-fought North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) battle Wednesday night at Livingston Gymnasium.

Matching point-by-point, things were all tied up at 16-all after one quarter was in the books. Denison then outscored the Tigers 15-8 in the second to take a 31-24 lead at the break. 

But Witt wasn't ready to roll over and went on a 7-0 run at the beginning of the third quarter to tie things at 31-all at the 7:06 mark. The Tigers enjoyed their largest lead of the game at 35-31 with five minutes remaining. 

However, the Big Red toughened up its defense and held Witt to just four points in the final minutes during a 13-4 run to go up 44-39 after three quarters. They never relinquished the lead en route to the victory and improved to 15-9 on the season and 8-5 in the NCAC overtaking Wittenberg for third place in the standings with one regular-season game remaining.

With the loss, the Tigers fall to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in the conference for a fourth-place tie with Oberlin.  Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw sit atop the NCAC at 13-0 and 11-2, respectively. 

Team Leaders

• Riane Burton (Houston, TX / Cypress Ranch) led the team with 17 points and four rebounds. She also added two steals. 
• Karsen Karlblom (Crystal Lake, IL / Prairie Ridge) and Kelsey Ragan (Whitehouse, OH / Anthony Wayne) each added 10 points. Karlblom also had three rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
• Jazmyn Gaines-Burns (Bladensburg, MD / Elizabeth Seton) added nine points, three rebounds, an assist, two blocks, and three steals.
• Taryn Cash (Cincinnati, OH / Princeton) dished out three assists, pulled down four rebounds, and added a steal.

 Team Comparison

• Denison shot 46.9% from the field to 41.7% for Wittenberg. The Big Red also went eight-for-18 from three-point range for 44.4% to the Tigers' 30%.
• The Big Red also hit the boards, outrebounding Wittenberg 37-21 (12-6 on the offensive boards).
• There were seven ties in the game and six lead changes. Denison's largest lead was of 10.
• Denison got 17 bench points and 26 points in the paint.

Up Next

The Tigers' next game will be senior recognition day on Saturday, February 22, when they host Hiram at 2 p.m. in the final regular and conference game of the season at Pam Evans Smith Arena, part of the Health, Wellness & Athletics Complex. The Tigers will then compete in the NCAC tournament beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The top six women's teams from the regular-season standings advance to single-elimination tournament.