Wittenberg Fall To Kenyon In First-Place Battle

GAMBIER, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers lost their shooting touch on Wednesday, and even a stout defensive effort against North Coast Athletic Conference-leading Kenyon couldn't make up for it in a 35-33 loss on the Ladies' home floor.

The loss dropped Wittenberg to 10-8 overall, but more importantly the Tigers fell out of a three-way tie for second place in the NCAC with the loss. The Tigers are now 6-3 in the conference, heading into a Saturday road trip to Oberlin. Kenyon, which improved to 15-3 overall and 9-1 in the conference, avenged a 29-point loss to Wittenberg two weeks ago in Springfield and moved two games ahead of the three-time defending conference champion Tigers with the win.

To call this game a defensive struggle would be an understatement. Wittenberg made just 11-of-45 shots from the field in the game, and missed their last nine attempts over the final 10 minutes of the game. In fact, Wittenberg's last field goal came on a three-pointer by Megan Miller at the 10:41 mark of the second half and the Tigers' last point was on an Emilie Schmid free throw at the 9:16 mark. That gave Wittenberg a 33-26 lead, at which Kenyon chipped away until taking the lead on a Hilary Gowins jumper with five seconds left in the game.

Kenyon was a little better in the shooting department, hitting 32 percent of its shots. Both teams had almost twice as many turnovers as made shots, and they combined to make just 4-of-25 three-point attempts. The Ladies were led offensively by three players, including Katy Zeanah with eight points and 10 rebounds, a game-high.

Wittenberg put 13 players in the game, and 10 of them scored at least two points. Problem was, only junior guard Carrie Jones offered any consistency at that end, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor. Schmid added five points and sophomore post Kathy Hittle added eight rebounds, a team-high.