The Denison women's basketball team saw its season come to an end in overtime at the 2015 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday night. The third-seeded Big Red fell to second-seeded Wittenberg, 76-72, in NCAC Tournament semifinal action from the Neal Fieldhouse in Greencastle, Ind.

Denison trailed by as many as nine in the first half before entering the intermission only down by five. Down 39-32 with 14:53 to play, a pair of Jordan Holmes free throws and a Kellie Arter three-pointer on back-to-back possessions pulled DU to within two.

Trailing by four, sophomore Gabrielle Nottage tied the game at 43-43 with four-straight free throws on consecutive DU possessions. That marked the sixth tie of the game and the first since the 8:36 mark of the opening period. After an empty Tiger possession, Arter took a pass from senior Mary Margaret Habel and drained a triple to give Denison its first lead since midway through the first half. Facing another two-point deficit, the Big Red engineered a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 55-50. Nottage kicked off the spurt with a layup to tie the contest. Habel followed with a free throw, while Arter and Holmes each added buckets to complete the burst.

The Tigers would once again rally to tie the game and, over the final 2:36, there would be six lead changes and four tie-game situations. The final tie came with 2.6 seconds left in regulation when Michelle Brunswick sank a pair at the foul line. After a full timeout, Nottage put up a half-court shot that went hard off the backboard.

Wittenberg struck first in the extra session when Heather Schroeder knocked down a pair one minute into overtime. The Big Red would tie the game for the 14th time when senior Alyx Ingram and Nottage each split a pair of free throws. After back-to-back turnovers, Riley McDonald would put the Tigers up for good with a layup. Wittenberg generated another turnover that resulted in points on the ensuing possession.

With 8.2 seconds on the clock, Habel took an inbounds pass from Ingram and scored down low to pull within two at 74-72. However, a pair of free throws by Enri Small inside the final five seconds secured the Wittenberg win.

Denison went 21-for-51 (41 percent) from the floor, but converted just 25 percent from beyond the arc. The Tigers were 20-for-60 (33.3 percent) from the field. The difference came at the foul line where Wittenberg scored 34 points, including seven of their 11 overtime tallies, while the Big Red generated just 26 points at the stripe. The Tigers also took advantage of DU's 27 turnovers, scoring 26 tallies.

Holmes led all scorers with 21 points to go along with 13 rebounds and four blocks while playing all 45 minutes. Arter and Habel finished with 15 points each, while Nottage scored nine of her 11 tallies at the free throw line. Nottage also dished out five assists.

Despite fouling out, Darbie Zirkle led Wittenberg with 17 points, while Haralamos added 15 points. Small finished with 14, while Brunswick grabbed a game-high 16 boards.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Holmes was named to the 2015 NCAC All-Tournament team along with DePauw's Savannah Trees, Ohio Wesleyan's Emily Julius and LaNiece McRae, and Wittenberg's Enri Small, Michelle Brunswick and Darbie Zirkle (MVP).

With the win, Wittenberg improves to 22-6 and will advances to the championship game of the NCAC Tournament. Denison finishes the season with a 15-12 record.