1. Men's basketball claims NCAC titles
2. Women's basketball enjoys defining year, wins NCAC regular season title
3. Student-athletes learn important lessons at sportsmanship conference
4. Swimming and diving teams compete at NCAA Division III championship

The Wittenberg women’s basketball team put together one of the finest seasons in school history in 2001-02, finishing 21-6 overall and 14-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

The Tigers, who posted a 12-0 regular season home record and a mark of 14-1 overall in the HPER Center, won an outright NCAC regular season title for the first time since 1998.

The season’s successes came to an end in the finals of the NCAC tournament when the Tigers were toppled by defending champion Ohio Wesleyan in overtime. The Tigers were then considered as an at-large team for the NCAA Division III tournament, but weren’t selected to compete.

The tournament title game loss concluded an eventful final week of the season that included a milestone in the coaching career of Head Coach Pam Smith.

On Feb. 19, she picked up her 300th career victory as the Tigers downed The Wittenberg men’s basketball team reloaded quickly in 2001-02, refusing to allow the loss of three senior starters to hold them back from achieving two of their three major goals.

A year after winning the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship and advancing to the NCAA Division III tournament Round of 16 with a 24-4 final record, the Tigers put together an outstanding 26-4 final mark in 2001-02 and claimed NCAC regular season and tournament titles in the same season for the first time since 1996.

The team had a motto of Back-to- Back PLUS, and they lived up to that by winning the NCAC regular season with a 15-1 record and then capturing the conference tournament competition by defeating Earlham, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster for a third time each.

That advanced the Tigers to the NCAA tourney for the sixth time in Head Coach Bill Brown’s nine seasons at the helm, in which Wittenberg defeated Franklin College 75-44 in the first round before the College of Wooster, 76-69, in the first round of the NCAC tournament.

She received two proclamations for her outstanding career accomplishments — from her hometown of Cincinnati and from Springfield Mayor Warren Copeland. After the season, Smith was named NCAC Coach of the Year, the fourth time she has claimed the award.

The Tigers were led by a core group of outstanding juniors. Guards Kate Rolf and Stephanie Campbell were the team’s leading scorers for a second straight year, while forwards Meghan Bruggeman and Tiffany Keller were probably the team’s most improved players.

The Tigers went 12 players deep on most nights in 2001-02, and just two players who saw significant minutes are scheduled to graduate this spring. After the season, Rolf was named All-NCAC first-team for a second straight year, while Campbell and Keller both earned spots on the second team.