By: Andrew Korba

SPRINGFIELD, OHIO -- The Hiram College women's basketball team fell at Wittenberg in a NCAC road contests by a 71-51 score on Friday evening.

The Terriers are now 4-8 on the season and 0-3 in the NCAC, while the Tigers improve to 10-3, 2-1.

Sophomore Kayla Yost (Norwalk/Perkins) just missed her sixth straight double-double, finishing with a team-high 11 points and nine rebounds. She also had three assists in the game.

Senior Kelsey Koskinen (Madison) finished with 10 points, while senior Taylor Ratliff (Berea/Columbia) had nine.

Darbie Zirkle and Erni Small led Wittenberg with 20 and 19 points, respectively.

The Tigers used strong shooting to build an early 18-4 advantage.

Wittenberg would expand its lead to 34-14. But Hiram would respond with a 9-2 run to get within 36-23, late in the first half.

Two free throws from Small in the closing moments gave the Tigers a 38-23 lead at the break.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman Kaylee Shockley (Uniontown/Lake) and Koskinen pulled the Terriers to within 40-33 with 15:01 remaining in the game.

But Wittenberg scored the next 11 points and never looked back to grab the win.

Hiram finished the game 17-of-61 (26.6 percent) from the field, while the Tigers were 27-of-60 (45.0 percent).

The Tigers held a 51-37 edge in rebounding and 24-14 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Hiram will have a quick turnaround and will play again on Saturday, when it continues its seven-game road swing at No. 15 and NCAC leader DePauw (Ind.) at 2 p.m.