Wittenberg clinches share of NCAC title with 62-49 win at Earlham

RICHMOND, Ind. - The Wittenberg Tigers had to do it the hard way for once, rallying for a 62-49 victory over the host Earlham Quakers after falling behind midway through the second half. The win, Wittenberg's 13th consecutive, improved the defending North Coast Athletic Conference regular season champion Tigers to 18-4 overall and 13-0 in the NCAC, and it clinched at least a share of a second straight conference title.

This was a tough one for the Tigers, however. After breezing to three easy wins last week, Wittenberg had to prove its championship mettle in this one by overcoming a dreadful shooting performance. The Tigers made just 9 of 47 shots in the first half (19 percent) and just 24 of 87 shots in the game overall (28 percent). But it's not always about how many you make, it's about when you make them and how many you make in relation to your opponent.

In this case, the Tigers did enough other things well to pull out the win, despite trailing 38-37 at the 10 minute mark of the second half. Wittenberg won the rebounding battle with 60 rebounds, including a whopping 35 on the offensive end, compared to 45 boards, only 12 of which were offensive, for the Quakers, who fell to 13-8 overall and 8-6 in the NCAC. The Tigers also did their usual defensive job, harassing Earlham into 25 turnovers, compared with 14 ballhandling miscues for Wittenberg.

The Tigers outscored Earlham 21-9 in the final 7:30 of the game to slowly pull away. Wittenberg was paced offensively by three players in double figures, senior guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) with 12 points, junior guard Christina Fischer (Norwood, Ohio/Cincinnati St. Ursula) with 10 points and senior guard Kate Rolf (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll) with 10 points. In addition, senior forward Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) contributed nine points and 10 rebounds and junior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill) chipped in with the same totals.

Earlham got 19 points from standout forward Lindsey Chappell and 13 more from guard Kim Patton, but the Quakers were hampered by their own poor shooting as they made just 31 percent for the game.

The Tigers are back in action Saturday at Wooster at 2 p.m. with a chance to clinch the NCAC title outright for a second straight year. The conference crown in 2003 is Wittenberg's ninth since joining the NCAC in 1989.