Greencastle, Ind. - Ninth-ranked DePauw charged to a 22-point first-half lead and fought off visiting Wittenberg in the second half to claim a 57-46 North Coast Athletic Conference win. The host Tigers improved to 18-1 overall and 10-0 in the NCAC, while Wittenberg dropped to 9-10 overall and 4-6 in the NCAC.

Wittenberg scored the game's first four points in the opening 1:10 of the contest, but DePauw closed the quarter with 12 straight and opened the second with the first four to take a 16-4 lead. An 11-2 stretch late in the second pushed DePauw's lead to 22 at 35-13 before Wittenberg closed it to 36-17 at the intermission.

DePauw held a 40-20 advantage after Emily Budde's bucket with 7:11 remaining in the third, but Wittenberg closed to within 44-34 following Delaney Williams' 3-pointer with 2:49 left in the quarter which capped a 14-4 run and a stretch of three straight treys by the visiting Tigers. Neither team scored over the final two and one-half minutes of the stanza as DePauw took the 10-point lead into the fourth.

Wittenberg trimmed the lead to nine early in the quarter, but Hayley Cange hit a layup and Sydney Kopp converted a three-point play to push it back to 14 with 5:15 left. Wittenberg cut the margin back to single digits on Sydney Mayle's 3-pointer with 1:31 left, but Budde countered with a trey to seal the win.

Maya Howard led DePauw with 19 points and three steals, while Melinda Franke and Budde each added 12. Franke snagged a game-high 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. 

Williams paced Wittenberg with 15 points, four assists and three steals and Mayle chipped in 11 points.

DePauw shot 37.8 percent from the floor to Wittenberg's 28.3 percent and the hosts held a 43-30 edge on the boards including 15 on the offensive glass.

DePauw returns to action on Saturday, January 27, when it hosts Wooster at 2 p.m.