SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Earlham College women's basketball team squared off with the top team in the North Coast Athletic Conference on Wednesday as the Quakers fell 71-57 at Wittenberg University.

Nikki Darrett led the Quakers with 14 points and six rebounds. Amelia Frazier added nine points with Michelle Miranda contributing eight points.

Jessica Wooden finished with seven points. Princess Darnell had a career-high eight assists to go with six points and three rebounds.

Wittenberg (17-7, 15-1), the NCAC regular season champion, scored the first 10 points of the contest before Wooden found the basket at the 17:04 mark for Earlham's initial tally.

Miranda cut the deficit to 10-5 with a 3-pointer at 16:04, but the Tigers scored six straight to go on top 16-5 at 14:34.

The Quakers continued to fight and eventually closed the gap to 25-19 on a basket by Whitney Sparkman with 2:58 left in the opening period. However, by intermission Wittenberg had a 34-22 advantage.

In the second half, the Tigers started to widen their margin. The Quakers got as close as 46-36 when Sparkman tossed in a shot with 13:10 remaining in the contest.

Earlham (3-21, 2-13) finishes the regular season against the College of Wooster Saturday on Schuckman Court in the Athletics and Wellness Center. The NCAC game gets underway at 3 p.m.

Box Score