2001-02 News
Not a bad start to the trip of a lifetime for the Wittenberg University men's and women's basketball teams. Touring China for a unique trip that will combine educational opportunities with athletic competitions, the Tiger teams played their first games in the Far East on Monday and came up with a pair of victories.
The Wittenberg women’s basketball team put together another fine season in 2001-02, finishing 21-6 overall and 14-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The Tigers, who posted a 12-0 regular season home record and a mark of 14-1 overall in the HPER Center, won an outright NCAC regular season title for the first time since 1998.
Two coaches who are no strangers to success picked up more hardware for their trophy cases on Monday. Wittenberg University Men's Basketball Head Coach Bill Brown and Women's Basketball Head Coach Pam Smith were both named North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in a vote of their peers, the conference office announced.
Junior guard Kate Rolf and Head Coach Pam Smith headlined the 2002 All-North Coast Athletic Conference selections, earning first-team and Coach of the Year honors, respectively.
While the week didn't end the way Head Coach Pam Smith and her team envisioned, it was still an exciting and wild ride for the Tigers. Smith got her 300th career win on Tuesday in a quarterfinal victory over Wooster and the Tigers, the regular season NCAC champions with a 14-2 record, advanced all the way to the tournament title game on Saturday before falling in heart-breaking overtime fashion to defending champion Ohio Wesleyan.
It was a tale of two halves - and then came overtime. When the dust had settled, the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops had rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the No. 1 seed and host Wittenberg University Tigers, 81-75 in overtime to capture the NCAC's automatic NCAA Division III tournament berth.
The Wittenberg University Tigers play host to the North Coast Athletic Conference semifinals and finals, starting Thursday, Feb. 21, thanks to a first-place finish in the regular season.
It was a performance that could only be described as workmanlike. Playing against the bigger, more physical Allegheny Gators, Wittenberg's women's basketball team cobbled things together nicely for a 75-58 victory in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament semifinals.
The Tigers used a 16-1 second-half run to bury the visiting Denison Big Red 65-43 on Saturday to claim their first outright conference crownsince 1998. The win improved Wittenberg to 19-5 overall and 14-2 in the NCAC, the team's best conference record since 1999, when the Tigers shared the regular season title with Ohio Wesleyan with matching 14-2 marks.
It wasn't quite an act worthy of Houdini, but the top-seeded Wittenberg Tigers were indeed sweating bullets for a time on Tuesday. After trailing the eighth-seeded College of Wooster Lady Scots by as much as seven points early in the second half, the Tigers finally kicked it into overdrive to win 76-69 and advance to the semifinals. In the process, Wittenberg Head Coach Pam Smith won her 300th career game.
There was a time, not long after she was named head coach of Wittenberg University's women's basketball program, that Pam Smith (then known by her maiden name, Evans) wondered out loud if she would ever turn things around.
The Wittenberg University Tigers are back at home today to open the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament as the No. 1 seed and regular season champion.
The Wittenberg Tigers used a decisive 16-1 run through the middle of the second half to escape a close game against visiting Denison University and capture their first outright North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship since 1998. The Tigers, who improved to 19-5 overall and 14-2 in the NCAC with the win, put away Denison by a final of 65-43.
The Wittenberg University Tigers return home for a very important Senior Recognition Day game against visiting Denison University.
At the start of last week, the Wittenberg women's basketball team was coming off a disappointing road loss at Allegheny that dropped the team into a tie for the NCAC lead. What a difference a week makes.
Much like their male counterparts who had their hands full with a second-division team at home Wednesday night, the Wittenberg women had to work hard for an 81-61 win at Oberlin that clinched a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship.