Round Up: Tigers Take Decisive Win Over DePauw
The Wittenberg women's basketball team may be finding its sea legs after some early-season struggles as well. The Tigers have won two of their last three games, including an upset of nationally ranked DePauw on Dec. 14 at the HPER Center.
The Wittenberg women's basketball team may be finding its sea legs after some early-season struggles as well. The Tigers have won two of their last three games, including an upset of nationally ranked DePauw on Dec. 14 at the HPER Center.
The action started on Dec. 6-7 at the Calvin College Tournament. In the semifinals, a 10-0 run early in the second half kickstarted Wittenberg to a 69-55 win over Case Western Reserve. Wittenberg was paced by the hot shooting of senior guard Kate Rolf (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll), who poured in a game-high 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line. Senior guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) added 16 points and junior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Cincinnati Country Day) chipped in with 13 points and eight rebounds in her first career start.
In the championship game, the Tigers never led and eventually surrendered a 72-64 decision to Tri-State. Wittenberg was done in by a slow start and an inability to hit from the outside after falling behind by as much as 19 points in the first half before cutting the lead down to four on a couple occasions in the final minutes.
The Tigers got 17 points off the bench from junior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia) and a season-high 14 points and six rebounds from senior center Rebecca Meers (Moline, Ill./Moline). Warden finished with 11 points and seven boards and Campbell added 10 points, her sixth straight game in 2002-03 in double figures.
The highest peak of what has been an up-and-down season to date was climbed on Dec. 14 when the Tigers upended 13th-ranked DePauw, 69-64. Wittenberg led most of the game against DePauw, an NCAA Division III Final Four team a year ago. While the Tigers' lead grew to as much as seven points late in the first half, the two teams went into the locker room at halftime tied at 35.
The Tigers scored the last nine points of the game after heading into the final two minutes trailing by two. After DePauw committed a turnover, Campbell missed a three-pointer but junior point guard Christina Fischer (Norwood, Ohio/Cincinnati St. Ursula) was in the right place at the right time, picking up the rebound on the weak side and dropping in a layup as she was fouled. She converted the three-point play and then played suffocating defense on the ensuing DePauw possession, forcing another turnover. Campbell iced the game with two free throws with 14 seconds left. She was 10-of-11 for the game.
Campbell finished with a season-high 29 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-6 from three-point range, and the aforementioned free throws. Rolf added 15 points and Fischer chipped in with nine points, two rebounds, two assists and, most importantly, no turnovers in 35 minutes of play.