Ice Cold Tigers Fall To Oberlin

OBERLIN, Ohio — The Wittenberg women's basketball team couldn't find the range offensively in a stunning 73-56 loss at Oberlin.

It was the second straight year that the Yeowomen had defended their home floor against the Tigers, who have won 45 of the 50 meetings in the series. That includes a 67-50 win by Wittenberg on Dec. 3 on the Tigers' home floor.

The loss figures to be damaging to Wittenberg's hopes of hosting a North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament quarterfinal game next month. It dropped the Tigers to 8-9 overall and 4-5 in the NCAC, while Oberlin improved to 5-14 overall and 2-8 in the conference.

While Wittenberg was scuffling offensively for a second straight game, shooting just 22 percent in the first half and 32 percent overall in the game, the Yeowomen were making the most of the home court advantage. Oberlin's starters made a tremendous 25-of-44 shots in the game to account for 71 of the team's 73 points as the Yeowomen finished at 51 percent overall.

After scoring the game's first basket, the Tigers managed just four more points over the game's first 12 minutes to find themselves in a 20-6 hole. By halftime, Oberlin had pushed the lead out to 34-18.

The start to the second half was actually worse for Wittenberg as Oberlin opened on a 12-4 run to create an insurmountable 27-point lead at the 15:36 mark. The Tigers could get no closer than 16 the rest of the way.

Oberlin won the rebounding battle by one and Wittenberg committed less fewer turnovers in the game, but the final story was all about shooting percentages. The Tigers took 14 more shots from the field in the game, but only senior Sarah Watson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) was the only Wittenberg player to shoot better than 50 percent.

Watson finished with an outstanding line of 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals, while committing just one turnover. She hit 9-of-14 shots from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range, and 2-of-3 from the free throw line.

The only other Tiger who was particularly effective offensively was junior Kim Replogle (Houston, Ohio/Houston), who hit 5-of-10 shots from the field and finished with 13 points and six rebounds.