Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw avenged its only North Coast Athletic Conference loss and pushed its win streak to five after topping visiting Wittenberg by a 68-58 score. The Tigers improved to 12-7 overall and 7-1 in the NCAC, while Wittenberg dropped to 13-4 overall and 6-1 in conference play.
DePauw set the tone in the opening three minutes as
Moira McGinley hit a 3-pointer on the hosts' first possession of the game before
Mya Shannon followed with a bucket and
Riley Mont and McGinley knocked in back-to-back treys to make it 11-0 with 7:36 left in the first. The Tigers hit 61.5 percent from the floor and nailed all five 3-pointers in the opening period for a 25-10 lead.
Following a 3:57 scoring drought to start the second, DePauw took its largest lead of the game at 30-14 on Mont's 3-pointer which was the Tigers' sixth-straight of the contest. DePauw went to the break with a 34-23 lead.
Wittenberg cut the margin to seven early in the third on baskets by Jazmyn Gaines-Burns and Jade Simpson, but DePauw countered with baskets from Shannon and
Maura Fitzgerald to push the lead to 38-27. The guests were within eight after Evie Wolshire's jumper with 2:06 remaining in the third cut DePauw's lead to 46-38.
Ava Hassel and Mont hit treys to make it 52-38 before DePauw went to the fourth with a 53-40 advantage.Â
Wittenberg pulled within 10 at 58-48, but DePauw held the visiting Tigers scoreless for the next 3:25 while scoring four to extend the lead to 14 with 5:25 left.
McGinley led DePauw with 17 including 11 in the opening period, while Mont followed with 16, Shannon 14 and Hassel 10. Gaines-Burns paced Wittenberg with 16 points followed by Molly Scott with 14 and Taryn Cash with 10.
Each team finished with 31 rebounds as Shannon had five for DePauw and Cash grabbed five for Wittenberg. Cash also finished with eight assists.
DePauw shot 43.4 percent for the game and hit 9-of-16 from beyond the arc, while Wittenberg connected on 43.8 percent and just 2-of-10 from 3-point range.Â
DePauw hosts Wooster at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
