Wittenberg Nears Another NCAC Title With Win Over Second-Place Allegheny

MEADVILLE, Pa. - In this magical carpet ride of a 2003-04 North Coast Athletic Conference regular season, the Wittenberg Tigers have followed a familiar recipe for succes - grind out tough, relatively low-scoring wins by playing well with the lead. Chalk one up for variety - on Friday night, the Tigers rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit before coming up with the right ingredients for the aforementioned recipe, carrying their only lead of the game through to the conclusion and a 64-57 win at second-place Allegheny.

Wittenberg won for the 12th straight time in the 2003-04 season and took the biggest step yet toward a third straight outright NCAC regular season title. The Tigers improved to 16-5 overall and 12-0 in the NCAC by winning for the 32nd straight time in conference regular season action. Allegheny, the last team to beat Wittenberg in NCAC regular season action on Feb. 2, 2002, fell to 11-10 overall and 9-3 in the conference. The Gators had their seven-game win streak snapped.

Allegheny led for the first 22:38 before the Tigers took their first lead of the game on a free throw by senior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill) - followed by a four-point play as Warden was fouled on a good three-point attempt, capping an 21-3 run that erased a 28-14 Gators lead and gave Wittenberg a 35-31 advantage. The Tigers extended the lead to as much as nine points in the second half and then had to hang on, making their last seven foul shots as Allegheny made a big charge in the waning moments.

Wittenberg got another outstanding performance from Warden, the team's leading scorer and rebounder. She scored 14 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end. The key to the win was free throw shooting as Wittenberg took advantage of 28 Allegheny fouls to hit 30-of-41 shots from the free throw line. The 30 free throws made is a school record, breaking the previous high of 27, while the 41 attempts is one short of the school record of 42 in NCAA Division III Tournament action against Kean on March 3, 1990.

Wittenberg senior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia) led all scorers with 20 points, including 6-of-7 from the foul line. Junior guard Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) chipped in with 12 points off the bench, 10 of which were earned at the charity stripe. Allegheny, which was outrebounded in the game 45-33, put three players in double figures, led by Meredith McDonough and Jessica Kankoski with 12 points each.

Another interesting note is that the Tigers missed all seven three-point attempts. The last time Wittenberg was held without a three-pointer in a game was Dec. 3, 2000, at Thomas More. Since that 88-55 victory, the Tigers had made at least one trey in each of 95 straight games.