SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Enri Small came up big Tuesday night. The senior guard scored a season-high 27 points and led her Wittenberg University Tigers to a 67-60 win over the visiting Kenyon College Ladies in the first round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.

The loss for the Ladies marked the end of a ten-year streak in which the Kenyon women reached at least the semifinal round of the tournament. The loss also finalized the Ladies' 2014-15 record at 7-18. On the flip side, Wittenberg, the tournament's No. 2-seeded team, improved to 21-6 overall. The Tigers will advance along the tournament trail to take on Denison University in the semifinals.

Kenyon started the Tuesday-night game at Pam Evans Smith Arena on the right foot. A layup by freshman Ifeoma Archimalo about four minutes into action gave the Ladies their first lead, 4-3. The Kenyon women maintained the lead for the next 11 minutes and even pulled ahead by eight points when another freshman, Griffin Tullis, drained a jumper at 6:45 to give the Ladies a 22-14 cushion.

Wittenberg, a team that twice defeated Kenyon during the regular season, then kicked its game into a higher gear. Fueled by a trio of three-pointers and eight consecutive conversions at the free throw line, the Tigers closed out the half on a 17-5 run to take a 31-27 lead into the break. During the run, Small hit two three-pointers and fellow senior Darbie Zirkle racked up seven points.

Throughout the game, the Ladies fought a lopsided battle at the free throw line. Wittenberg made 24 trips to the charity stripe and sank 18 free throws. Kenyon made just ten trips to the line and uncharacteristically made only three shots.

Sophomore Bailey Dominguez, who scored a dozen points for Kenyon, canned a three-pointer to start off the second half, but the one-point difference on the scoreboard would be as close as the Ladies could get. Small was nearly unstoppable during the second half. She played just ten of those final 20 minutes, but managed to go 7-of-12 and tallied up 19 of her 27 points in that time. Overall, Small was 10-of-20 from the floor, including a remarkable 6-of-8 from three-point range.

Kenyon did manage to pull within a point of Wittenberg on two other occasions, but it was never able to regain the lead. At the 6:12 mark, junior Molly Rubin nailed a three-pointer to make the score 56-55 in favor of Wittenberg. Rubin then traded buckets with Michelle Brunswick to make the score 58-57 with 5:11 left on the clock.

Over those last five minutes, Kenyon missed five of its final six shots and Wittenberg rode Small and Zirkle to the finish line. Zirkle finished with 17 points, while Brunswick and Katelyn Haralamos contributed seven and eight rebounds, respectively, giving Wittenberg a 42-30 advantage on the glass.

Kenyon senior Sarah Hobbs, playing in her final game, led the Ladies with 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Rubin, Tullis, and senior Lauren Kriete all tossed in eight points for Kenyon.