SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (February 3, 2024) – The Denison University women's basketball team trailed by 13 points with five minutes remaining but outscored Wittenberg University 23-9 the rest of the way and used a free throw by freshman Morgan Kress with just 1.5 seconds on the clock to earn a 78-77 road win over the Tigers on Saturday.

Both teams had a five-game winning streak snapped last time out, and this one came down to the wire as Denison overcame a 17-point (44-27) deficit in the second quarter to make it a 3-point game going into the fourth quarter, and then needed to rally late in the final period.

Denison finished the third quarter with a layup by Abby Cooch to make it a 54-51 Wittenberg lead, and then the Tigers outscored the Big Red 14-4 over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to take the 13-point (68-55) advantage.

Then still down by nine points (71-62) with four minutes remaining, Cooch walked into a 3-pointer from the top of the key and was followed by a Wittenberg turnover and a layup by Kress to make it a four-point game (71-67).

Wittenberg answered with a layup by Riane Burton, and then after a 3-pointer by Brooke Toigo brought the Big Red to within three (73-70), another layup by Burton made it a 75-70 Tiger lead with a minute and a half remaining.

The Big Red, however, had plenty of fight left in them and after a pair of free throws by Abigail Westmeyer with 1:11 left, a quick travel by the Tigers against Denison's full court press led to a game-tying 3-pointer from the corner by Cooch to make it 75-75 just seconds later. Cooch inbounded the ball following the travel, and the Tigers forgot to follow the cardinal rule of basketball to keep an eye on the inbounder, and Cooch ran right to the corner for the 3-point try.

Then in the final minute, a long two-point jumper for Wittenberg was followed by an offensive rebound and layup by Maddie Goodman with 34 seconds left, tying the game again at 77-77.

That led to an offensive foul on the Tigers with 14 seconds left, and then with time winding down, a nice pass into the lane by Cooch found Kress, who was fouled with just 1.5 seconds on the clock. After coming up short on her first attempt, Kress' second shot was nothing but net.

After advancing the ball with a timeout, Wittenberg still had a chance with 1.5 seconds left, but threw the ball away trying to complete the inbounds pass.

Despite allowing Wittenberg to shoot 9-for-11 (81.82 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter, the Big Red press came up huge and helped force nine turnovers by the Tigers in the final period.

Another difference was free throw shooting as Denison was 8-for-11 in the fourth quarter and 19-for-26 (73.1 percent) overall while Wittenberg was 5-for-10 in the fourth quarter and missed 10 free throws (13-23; 56.5 percent) overall.

Denison also outscored Wittenberg by 16 points (49-33) in the second half to earn the victory.

With the win, Denison improved to 16-5 overall and 7-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference and drew into a tie for third place in the conference standings with Wittenberg, which fell to 14-6 and 7-3. It was also Denison's first win over Wittenberg since February, 28, 2020, breaking a stretch of seven straight loss and three straight season sweeps at the hand of the Tigers, and was Denison's first road win at Wittenberg in seven seasons (Dec. 10, 2016).

Cooch led a quartet of Big Red players in double-figure scoring as she finished with a new career-high of 21 points while shooting 5-for-7 from three and adding six assists and five rebounds. She was followed by Ada Taute with 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds, Togio with 15 points on 3-for-4 shooting from three, and Kress with 10 points.

Cooch and Toigo combined for eight of Denison's nine 3-pointers in the game as the Big Red shot a season-high 50 percent (9-18) from 3-point range.

Next up, Denison's third straight game against a top-three team in the NCAC standings while see the Big Red travel to play at first-place DePauw University starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 7, in Greencastle, Indiana. In their first meeting this season (Jan. 17), the Big Red handed DePauw its only loss in conference action (54-48) so far this season after limiting the Tigers to just four made field goals in all four quarters.