Late-Game Offensive Spurt Pushes Wittenberg Past Scots 71-63

Winnie Adrien

Entering the season, The College of Wooster women’s basketball team wanted to prove it could compete with the elite teams of the North Coast Athletic Conference. Saturday afternoon in Springfield, the Fighting Scots did so, nearly upsetting NCAC perennial power Wittenberg University for the first time in nearly nine years, but finding itself on the losing end of a 71-63 battle.

Carly Loehrke put the Scots (3-3, 1-1 NCAC) up by one on the back end of a pair of free throws with three minutes remaining to play making the score 63-62, however, Wittenberg’s (3-3, 2-0 NCAC) offense came on strong in the final minutes, scoring the next eight points, while holding the Scots without a field goal for the last 4:41 remaining in the contest.

In a tightly contested game that featured 13 ties and lead changes, it was Wooster who came out of the gates first, scoring the first bucket on a Loehrke jumper, and then taking a 5-2 lead on a three-point bomb by Kym Wenz.  The hosts turned the tables, building an eight-point lead, 16-8, with 14:15 remaining in the period before the Scots regained momentum, igniting a nine-point run highlighted by Wenz and Beth Besancon Sidle treys and an old-fashioned three-point play by Angela Evans to regain the lead 17-16 at the 11:00 mark.

The remaining half of the period would be a back-and-forth battle between the two squads, with Wooster rallying for a late 7-2 run giving the Scots a 38-33 advantage at the half.

Wittenberg came out determined in the second half, cutting the Scot lead to one on a pair of free throw by Katie Gregoravich. Wooster continued to put points on the board, however, pushing its lead back to five on a Besancon Sidle lay-up with 11:21 to play in the game.  Consecutive Scot turnovers allowed the hosts to knot the game for the eight time, 50-50, before Wooster went up by four again, on two Besancon Sidle free throws and a Winnie Adrien lay-up.

The contest would remain tight, as neither team led by more than two points for the next six minutes, but Wittenberg pulled together for one final offensive outburst in the final minutes, pulling away for the eight-point victory.

Leading the Scots was a trio of players posting double-figures in scoring, led by Wenz’s 13 points and four rebounds. Adrien finished with 11 markers and four steals, while Besancon Sidle fired in 10 points, adding five assists and three rebounds. Loehrke and Maria Gonzalez each grabbed a team-high five rebounds, along with adding eight points a piece.

Wittenberg was led in scoring by Kathy Hittle with 16 points, while Gregorevich and Ali Rohlfs contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively.

For the game, Wooster connected on 22-of-49 shots from the field (.449) while making 37 percent of its shots from three-point range (6-for-16).  Wittenberg wound up with similar statistics, shooting 20-of-49 (.408) from the field, while hitting 6-of-14 from behind the arc (40 percent). The Scots were out-rebounded by a 39-25 margin, with the Tigers hauling in 18 offensive rebounds. Wooster won the turnover battle, forcing 25 Wittenberg miscues, resulting in 29 points, while the Scots turned over the ball 24 times during the contest.

Wooster will be back in action Tuesday, Dec. 19 when it travels to the west coast to take on La Verne College in a 1:00 p.m. game (Pacific Standard Time). Two days later, the Scots will continue their play out west with a contest against Whittier College in a 12:00 p.m. (PST) tip-off.