GRANVILLE, Ohio (January 3, 2024) – The first North Coast Athletic Conference game of the season for the Denison University women's basketball team saw the Big Red be held to just three points in the second quarter before falling 58-44 at home against Wittenberg University on Wednesday night.

Wittenberg shot 57.1 percent (8-14) from the field en route to a 22-point first quarter, and then Denison was 0-for-10 from the field with eight turnovers in the second quarter as the Tigers built their lead to 16 points (35-19) at halftime.

Then Denison's 0-for-7 start to the third quarter combined with its two misses at the end of the first quarter made it 19 total misses in a row as Wittenberg's lead grew to 23 points (47-24) late in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Big Red limited the Tigers to a 0-for-7 start while scoring the first nine points of the period to get to within 10 at 52-42 on a 3-pointer by Abigail Westmeyer with under five minutes remaining in the game. Wittenberg, however, came right back with a 3-pointer on its next possession and never let its lead get to single digits.

In all, Denison shot a season-low 28 percent from the field and was 3-for-22 from three.

Ada Taute scored 12 points while Westmeyer had nine points and six rebounds and Morgan Kress had seven points, six rebounds and three blocks.

Denison falls to 9-3 on the season and 0-1 in the NCAC while Wittenberg, which is receiving votes in the latest WBCA NCAA Division III Top 25 Women's Basketball Coaches Poll and is second in the conference in scoring (70.0 ppg) and field goal percentage (.414), improved to 8-3 and 1-0.

Wittenberg also allows the least amount of rebounds per game (30.9) in the conference, and was right at that number tonight with 30 rebounds by the Big Red compared to 43 for the Tigers.
 
Next up, Denison will host the College of Wooster at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 6, in an effort to pick up its first conference win of the season.