(COLUMBUS, Ohio)---Junior Caitlin Elsass (Batavia/Clermont Northeastern) turned in a double-double, including a career-high 30 points, and Capital University's women's basketball team survived a double-overtime thriller, 85-83, against visiting Wittenberg University Monday at The Capital Center.
The game was Capital's final non-conference contest of the season, and the win moves the Crusaders to 11-5 on the season. With the loss, Wittenberg falls below the .500 mark on the season at 6-7.
The opening half was marked with lengthy runs from each team, with Capital opening the game on an 11-0 spurt over the first 6:11. Wittenberg would answer with an 8-0 run of its own over the next 1:09 of play, using five consecutive points from Victoria Leali to bring the score to 11-8 in favor of the Crusaders with 12:40 remaining in the half. Finally, Capital responded with a 10-0 run, which included four free-throws from freshman Tara Harper (Dresden/Tri-Valley). Capital led by 13, 21-8, after its second double-digit run, and it would improve on that lead by one point over the next 9:26, as it held the 38-24 halftime lead.
Capital held on to the lead the entire second half until Ali Rohlfs hit a lay-up with 25 seconds left on the game clock, making the score 69-69, to push the game into overtime.
Wittenberg took its first lead of the ballgame on its second possession of the first overtime period, and would extend that lead to 73-69 until senior Tiffany Withers (Pickerington/Pickerington Central) hit a lay-up to give the lead back to Capital with 1:07 remaining in overtime. A Harper free-throw pushed the lead out to two, but Carrie Dyer of the Tigers sent the game into a second overtime on a jumper with 0:03 left.
Capital would go on to outscore Wittenberg 10-8 in the second overtime to take the 85-83 victory.
Backing up Elsass' 30 points and 11 rebounds was Harper, making her first career collegiate start, as she set a career-high of her own with 17 points. Three other Crusaders managed double-digit scoring nights, including junior Heather McAlpin (Cincinnati/Colerain), junior Caitlin Graessle (Galloway/Bishop Ready), and Withers, who scored 11, 10, and 10 respectively.
For the Tigers, Rohlfs had a team-high 22 points and six rebounds, while Katie Gregorevich added 16 points of her own.
Capital will host Ohio Athletic Conference rival Baldwin-Wallace College at 3 p.m. Saturday in The Capital Center.