Another Big Win For Tigers As They Cruise Past Earlham, 76-44
The Wittenberg Tigers made sure there would be no surprises on Wednesday night. They blitzed the visiting Earlham College Quakers 29-2 to start the game and ran away for a 76-44 victory.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers made sure there would be no surprises on Wednesday night. They blitzed the visiting Earlham College Quakers 29-2 to start the game and ran away for a 76-44 victory.
The win was Wittenberg's 15th straight in the 2003-04 season, and it was the team's 35th in North Coast Athletic Conference action. The Tigers are now 19-5 overall and 15-0 in the NCAC, one win from a second straight perfect conference regular season. Earlham fell to 8-15 overall and 5-10 in the conference.
Wittenberg scored the game's first 15 points, thanks in part to the hot play of senior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill), who had eight of those points. The lead was quickly extended to 29-2 at the 12:21 mark of the first half before the Quakers finally woke up and went on an 11-2 run of their own. But the damage was done, and Wittenberg worked the lead back to 24 points by halftime and up to as much as 36 in an anticlimactic second half.
The statistical reasons were many for the lopsided score. Wittenberg shot 48 percent from the field, including 57 percent in the first half, compared to 29 percent by the Quakers. The Tigers attempted 19 more free throws in the game, outrebounded their visitors by 12 and forced 27 Earlham turnovers. Individually, Warden led the Tigers with 16 points, four rebounds and five steals in just 18 minutes of action. Freshman guard Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) bombed away in her 13 minutes, scoring a career-high 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. And senior forward Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) chipped in with 13 points and a game-high eight boards.
Earlham picked up a game-high 17-point effort from Lindsey Chappell, but help was in short supply. She also led her team in rebounds with seven, and she hit 6-of-7 shots from the field. But her teammates combined to make just 12-of-54 shots in the game, and none finished with more than seven points.