SPRINGFIELD, OHIO — The Hiram College women’s basketball team was outscored, 42-20, in the second half which allowed Wittenberg University to come away with a 66-41 victory tonight (Friday, Feb. 3) in a North Coast Athletic Conference game in Springfield. [Game Stats]
Following tonight’s game, the Terriers are now 7-13 overall and 4-8 in the NCAC. The Tigers improve to 10-9 overall and 6-5 NCAC.
Hiram opened the game with an 11-4 scoring run to take the early lead. Wittenberg quickly bounced back with a 6-0 run of its own to cut the lead to a point, 11-10, with 11:08 left in the first half. The Terriers scored on a layup by sophomore guard Marisa Thomas (Lorain/Amherst) at the 9:09 mark that ended the Wittenberg run and put Hiram back up by three points, 13-10. But that would be the last points Hiram would score for the next 5:06 allowing the Tigers to take the lead on an 8-0 run for an 18-13 advantage with 4:03 left in the period. Wittenberg never trailed again in the half and took a 24-21 lead into the locker rooms.
In the second half, Hiram shot just 25.0 percent (seven-of-28) as Wittenberg took control early, outscoring the Terriers, 11-3, in the first 3:44 to record its first double-figure lead of 11 points, 35-24, at the 16:16 mark. Hiram later narrowed the gap to 10 points, 42-32, on a three-point play by junior guard/forward Amy Geisman (Middleburg Heights/Midpark) with 10:45 left to go. But that would be as close as the Terriers would get as Wittenberg blew the game open with a 13-2 run that put the Tigers up by as many as 21 points, 55-34, with 5:12 remaining. Wittenberg went on to lead by as many as 27 points in the half en route to the 66-41 victory.
Wittenberg was led by Katelyn Haralamos with a game-high 15 points on seven-of-12 shooting (58.3 percent). Lyndsey Clark was the only other player in double-figures for the Tigers with 10 points.
Hiram’s highest point scorer was senior guard Tiffany Shields (Bedford Heights/Bedford) with eight points on three-of-eight shooting (37.5 percent). She also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
Hiram will look to get back on track tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 4) when it travels to Greencastle, Ind. for a NCAC game against No. 6 nationally-ranked DePauw (Ind.) University. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.