Wittenberg 70, Ohio Wesleyan 56

Feb. 27, 2004

Carrie Jones hit a lay-in and 2 free throws to cap a 17-5 run that opened the second half for Wittenberg, and the Tigers went on to defeat Ohio Wesleyan in a semifinal matchup of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament on Friday in Springfield.

Wittenberg advances to the NCAC tournament championship game to face Allegheny on Saturday night. The winner of that game will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Tigers had broken a 29-29 tie with 2 free throws by Kari Kitchen and a putback jumper by Emilie Schmid at the first-half buzzer to take a 33-29 lead into the locker room. Wittenberg opened the second half with baskets by Haley Warden and Alison Nahrup to increase its lead to 37-29.

Junior wing Kelly Heil (Sylvania/Southview) drilled a 3-pointer to bring the Bishops back to within 37-32, but the Tigers answered with jumpers by Geri Woessner, Kathy Hittle and Kitchen to hike the lead to 43-32.

Junior post Erica Brizendine (Grove City) sank a lay-in to make it a 43-34 game, but the Tigers reeled off 7 straight points, with Jones contributing 2 baskets and 2 Jones free throws for a 50-34 lead with 11:40 left in the game. Ohio Wesleyan did not come closer than 12 points during the remainder of the game.

The Bishops used an early 12-2 lead to take a 12-4 lead just over 5 minutes into the game. Brizendine scored 8 points and freshman post Tifini Ray (Hilliard/Davidson) added 4 points during the Bishop run.

Wittenberg closed to within 14-9, but the Bishops ran off 6 straight points, with Ray scoring twice and Brizendine once, to take their biggest lead of the game at 20-9.

The teams traded runs once more, with Wittenberg scoring 8 straight points to slice the deficit to 20-17 before Heil scored 7 straight points for the Bishops to fuel a 7-2 run that gave Ohio Wesleyan a 27-19 lead with 4:06 left in the first half.

The Tigers tied the game with 8 straight points as Bishop hit a 3-pointer, Schmid scored twice and Hittle sank a lay-in to tie the game at 27-27 with 2:26 left in the first half.

Brizendine led the Bishops with 22 points and 9 rebounds, while Heil finished with 21 points. Ray, Heil and junior guard Celina Dopoulos (Strongsville) shared the team lead with 2 assists apiece.

Heil's 21 points raised her season total to 554, the fourth-highest single-season figure in the Bishop record books.

Woessner led the Tigers with 18 points, while Warden had 17 points, a team-high 13 rebounds and shared the team lead with 3 assists. Kitchen also shared the team lead with 3 assists.

Brizendine represented the Bishops on the all-tournament team.

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