Round Up: Tigers Enter NCAC Tournament Seeded Fourth

Wittenberg struggled for a half before recovering for an 84-70 win over visiting Wooster in the regular season finale on Saturday. The Tigers, who have won five straight games, finished in a tie for third with Earlham, but was seeded No. 4 in the NCAC Tournament based on tiebreaker criteria. In 12 seasons in the NCAC, Wittenberg has never finished worse than a tie for third in a regular season.

The Tigers will host No. 5 seed Denison in the quarterfinals of the NCAC Tournament at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the HPER Center. A win will send Wittenberg into Friday's semifinals against the Ohio Wesleyan-Wooster winner. The semifinals and finals will be played on the home court of the highest remaining seed, most likely No. 1 Ohio Wesleyan.

Wittenberg got off to a slow start against Wooster and trailed 32-22 with 5:44 left in the first half before rallying to within 39-36 at halftime. The Tigers tied the game at 43 early in the second half and took the lead for good at 51-49 on a layup by junior point guard Meghan Gaydos (Concord, Ohio/Mentor Lake Catholic) with 14:48 left. That started a 17-2 run that blew the game open.

A trio of sophomores that have carried the Tigers most of the season did so again Saturday. Guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) had 16 points, four assists, four rebounds and five steals. ForwardsTiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) and Kate Rolf (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) added 12 and 11 points, respectively. Senior center Jamie Brafford (Monroe, Ohio/Lakota) added 10 points for the Tigers.

Wittenberg will be facing Denison for the second time in a week, after defeating the Big Red, 77-66, at the HPER Center last Wednesday. Rolf scored a game and career high 25 points, Campbell added 14 and Brafford 10 points.