Gators Lose Grip Against Wittenberg, 64-57

Feb 6, 2004

The Allegheny College women’s basketball team’s seven-game win streak came to a halt on Friday night as the Wittenberg Tigers handed the Gators a 64-57 loss in North Coast Athletic Conference action at the Wise Center. Allegheny led 31-26 at the half, but Wittenberg came back with defense in the second stanza holding the Gators to just 20.0 percent (6-30) shooting.

Junior forward Meredith McDonough (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic) and senior guard Jessica Kankoski (Glenshaw, Pa./Fox Chapel) paced Allegheny with 12 points each. McDonough added six rebounds. Sophomore guard Caitlin Murtagh (Bethel Park, Pa./Seton-LaSalle) added 11 points for the Gators.

Haley Warden had a double-double for Wittenberg with 14 points and 15 rebounds while Amber Bishop led all scorers with 20 points, going 7-of-14 from the field and 6-7 from the charity stripe. Wittenberg improves to 16-5 overall and 12-0 in the NCAC as they travel last-place Hiram on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers also took advantage of 41 trips to the free-throw line by hitting 30 of the attempts, a 73.2 percent conversion mark for the game. Wittenberg held and advantage on the glass, recording 45 rebounds while holding Allegheny, the top rebounding team in the conference, to just 33 rebounds.

The Gators led 28-14 with 3:44 left in the first half when junior guard Raelynn Miles (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) hit a layup. The Tigers closed the gap to 31-26 at the half with a 12-3 run over those lat minutes.

Wittenberg maintained the momentum by scoring the first nine points of the second half to take a 35-31 lead. Allegheny never recovered from the Tigers’ 21-3 run over six minutes, cutting the lead to one twice. Wittenberg iced the game by hitting 8-10 free throws in the last minute of play.

Allegheny, now 11-10 overall and 9-3 in the NCAC, will need to recover quickly from the home loss as they play Earlham on Saturday, February 7, at 2:00 p.m. at the Wise Center.

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