The Denison Big Red used a 15-point burst in the early going to open a double-digit lead they maintained for most of a furious Wittenberg Tiger comeback en route to a 60-49 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) victory.

The Big Red, ranked 18th in the latest d3hoops.com poll, improved to 17-0 overall and 6-0 in the NCAC with the win. Wittenberg dropped to 8-8 overall and 3-3 in the conference, heading into a road trip to Wooster on Saturday.

Leading 3-2 in the first two minutes of the game, the Tigers were blitzed over a five-minute stretch, yielding 15 unanswered points. Through the rest of the first half, Wittenberg chipped away at the lead, pulling to within nine points by the intermission.

The Tigers pulled to within five points at the 17:13 mark of the second half on a lay-up by junior Sarah Watson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson). After Denison pushed the lead back out to 11 with 7:28 to go, a five-point burst by Wittenberg again pulled the Tigers within striking distance, capped by a three-point play by junior Lauren Cassel (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) with 5:06 remaining. The Big Red were too much down the stretch, however, combining efficient offensive possessions with solid zone defense to pull away for the victory.

For the game, Denison hit 49 percent of its shots, compared to 34 percent for the Tigers. Wittenberg won the rebounding battle 35-34 and committed two less turnovers in the game. However, the Tigers were 0-of-11 from three-point range, while Denison was only slightly better at 2-of-11.

Individually, the Tigers were paced on offense by 12 points apiece from sophomore Kim Replogle (Houston, Ohio/Houston) and Watson. Replogle added seven rebounds in a productive 24 minutes off the bench. Also of note, Cassel contributed 11 points and senior Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) finished with eight points and a game-high 10 boards. Denison displayed great balance, with seven players scoring between five and 11 points in the game.