Wittenberg Wins Key NCAC Game Over Ohio Wesleyan

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers and their rollercoaster 2004-05 season continued on Tuesday, this time with a happy ride up one of the hills with a convincing 78-63 victory over visiting Ohio Wesleyan.

The win was Wittenberg's second straight after a puzzling 35-33 loss at North Coast Athletic Conference leader Kenyon on Jan. 26. Since struggling through a dismal offensive performance that included a nine-minute scoring drought to close the game against the Ladies, Wittenberg has scored 71 and 78 points in wins over Oberlin and Ohio Wesleyan. Those two wins raised the Tigers' record to 12-8 overall and, more importantly, 8-3 in the NCAC, good for a second-place tie with Denison, which absorbed a 48-32 defeat against Kenyon tonight.

Ohio Wesleyan, which is 0-7 against Wittenberg since the miraculous 81-75 overtime win in the HPER Center in the NCAC Tournament championship game in 2002, dropped to 13-7 overall and 7-4 in the conference, one game back of the Tigers and Big Red and an almost insurmountable three behind Kenyon.

For Wittenberg, the story was welcome offensive balance, keyed by a season-high 50 percent shooting performance from three-point range. With opponents forcing the Tigers' post players into tough spots as they focus on three of the team's top four scorers, guard play becomes even more crucial, and Wittenberg found some of it against the Battling Bishops.

The Tigers picked up 16 points and eight rebounds from freshman post Katie Gregorevich in her first career start and her counterpart across the lane had a record-setting night. Sophomore post Kathy Hittle finished with seven points, eight rebounds and a school-record five blocked shots, one better than the mark previously shared by three players. As a team, Wittenberg finished with 11 blocks, tying a record set in 1993 against Denison.

Freshman post Ali Rohlfs showed no ill-effects from her move to the bench, as she contributed 12 points and four rebounds, all offensive, in 16 productive minutes. Among the guards, two important statistical lines belonged to senior Emilie Schmid with seven points, seven rebounds and five steals and sophomore Megan Miller with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field in 14 minutes off the bench.

Ohio Wesleyan, which lost the rebounding battle 40-33 and committed five more turnovers than Wittenberg, was paced by Erica Brizendine with 19 points and eight rebounds and Tifini Ray with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. The conference's leading scorer and rebounder, Kelly Heil, was held in check, however, as she finished with six points and eight rebounds. The Battling Bishops put 17 players into the game, but just eight of them scored, as opposed to the Tigers, who played 12 and put 10 into the scoring column.

Wittenberg jumps back into action with two key home games this weekend. Allegheny, which is right behind the Tigers in the standings, visits on Friday and Hiram comes calling on Saturday.