HIRAM, Ohio — The Wittenberg women's basketball team finished off the 2010-11 regular season by completing a season sweep of Hiram and preserving a perfect all-time record against the Terriers. The series now stands at 28-0, while the Tigers improve to 12-13 overall and 7-7 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) on the season.
The fifth-seeded Tigers will head to fourth-seed Kenyon College for the NCAC Tournament Quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 22, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Tomsich Arena in the Kenyon Athletic Center. The Tigers swept both meetings with the Ladies this season, including a 74-65 win at Tomsich Arena on Jan. 15 and a 61-51 victory at Pam Evans Smith Arena on Feb. 4.
The Tigers took home the 'W' Saturday night thanks to some solid shooting performances, including a 6-of-13 night for junior wing Lauren Cassel (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Coffman), who added 5-of-6 at the line for a team-best 17 points, her fourth turn this season as the team's leading scorer. She also grabbed 12 boards, three offensive and nine defensive, to pace the team in rebounding for the first time in her collegiate career.
Cassel added two assists and two steals to turn in the game's most well-rounded performance in a team-high 36 minutes on the floor.
Just behind her in both scoring and rebounding was senior Katherine Hueter (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-3 from long range, and 11 rebounds, all but one at the defensive end. Hueter also registered two assists and a steal.
Also in double figures for the Tigers were junior forward Lindsey Clark (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) with 13 on 5-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and sophomore forward Ashanta Robinson (Yellow Springs, Ohio/Yellow Springs) with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Clark grabbed six rebounds while Robinson led the Tigers with a season high-tying four assists.
The Tigers shot at a 54.2 percent clip (13-24) in the second half to finish the game at 47.4 percent (27-57), and outrebounded the Terriers 46-33, capitalizing with 16 second chance points.
Towards the end of a back-and-forth first half that saw seven tie scores and six lead changes, the Tigers built out to an eight-point lead heading into the intermission. Coming out of the break, Hiram hit one basket to bring it to six, but Robinson answered with back-to-back layups, and the lead never dipped below 10 the rest of the way.