Box Score
Wittenberg 76, Ohio Wesleyan 73

Senior guard Kasey Schipfer (Mechanicsburg) scored 4 points and senior guard Lauren Denison (Pataskala/Watkins Memorial) added 3 more as Ohio Wesleyan narrowed an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to just 2, but Wittenberg withstood a potential game-tying possession at the end of regulation and escaped with a North Coast Athletic Conference win on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.

The Ohio Wesleyan-Wittenberg outcome, combined with DePauw's win over Wooster, splits the NCAC championship between Ohio Wesleyan, Wittenberg, and DePauw, each with an 11-3 record in conference play.  The NCAC crown is Ohio Wesleyan's first since the 2000-01 season, when Ohio Wesleyan and Allegheny shared the conference championship.  DePauw won the 3-way tiebreaker and will be the No. 1 seed in next week's NCAC tournament, while Wittenberg will be the No. 2 seed and Ohio Wesleyan will be the No. 3 seed and will host sixth-seeded Hiram at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Branch Rickey Arena in an NCAC tournament quarterfinal matchup.

Wittenberg had taken a 73-62 lead on a Taryn Cash lay-in with 4:09 left in regulation time.

Freshman post Macy Miller (Marysville/Fairbanks) knocked down a jumper on Ohio Wesleyan's ensuing possession, and after an offensive foul on Wittenberg's Jade Simpson, Denison buried a 3-pointer to bring the Bishops within 73-67. The Tigers' Jazmyn Gaines-Burns was called for an offensive foul on the following possession, and Schipfer sank a pair of free throws to make it a 73-69 game before hitting a lay-in for a 73-71 count with :58 remaining.

Cash sank a jumper at the :16 mark to restore the 4-point margin, but Schipfer drew a foul and sank both free throws to bring Ohio Wesleyan within 75-73 with :10 to go.  The Bishops fouled Wittenberg's Jade Simpson with :07 to play, and the strategy worked when Simpson missed the first and hit the second for a 3-point margin.

With the Bishops looking for the game-tying 3-pointer, Denison cut around a screen by junior guard Kelsey Wolfe (Apple Creek/Waynedale) and both Tiger defenders stayed with Denison for an instant, resulting in Wolfe getting an open look, but Wolfe's shot just before the buzzer was off the mark.

Ohio Wesleyan had opened up a double-digit lead late in the first quarter, assembling a 7-0 burst that included a 3-point play by junior post Alyssa Griner (Delaware/Hayes), a bucket by Miller, and another Griner hoop that gave the Bishops a 25-14 lead.

The Bishops still led, 33-24, midway through the second quarter when Wittenberg went on a 10-0 run, getting a pair of jumpers by Cash during that stretch, and the visitors took a 38-37 lead at the break.  Wittenberg got 3-pointers by Evie Wolshire and Kelsey Ragan early in the third quarter and went on to take an 8-point lead, and opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run that included a lay-in and a pair of free throws by Cash.

Schipfer led the Bishops with 30 points and 9 rebounds.  Griner was 9-for-12 from the field on the way to 21 points, and Miller added 10 points.  Senior point guard Elizabeth Homan (Cincinnati/Anderson) dished out 8 assists, raising her season total to 170 to break the school record of 167 Homan set last season.

Box Score