If you started looking for comparisons between the Lady Tigers and their Saturday afternoon opponent, Indiana Wesleyan, there weren't that many. Well, the teams both sport two seniors on their rosters and both beat Bethel at Bethel.

So, if someone was looking for an advantage going into the game between the NAIA's 10th-ranked Division I team and Division II's No. 4, IWU had a seven-point edge in the margin of victory over Bethel.

Games aren't determined by comparisons, though, and the Lady Tigers reversed the margin-of-victory difference against a common opponent to beat the Wildcats 81-72.



Something had to give. Campbellsville (11-1) is averaging 88 points a game and IWU is allowing 58. The Lady Tigers had 60 points with 10 minutes to go.

"They're a nice offensive team," said coach Ginger Colvin. "They don't have a lot of quit in them.

"But I'm feeling better about our defense. Overall I think we played better, but we haven't really put together a good game mentally so far this year."

The Lady Tigers led by 17 points with a little over four minutes to go and held on for the nine-point victory. Late in the game the bugaboo was turnovers, as the Lady Tigers nearly doubled their first-half output of five and ended with 14.

CU got a monster performance from Courtney Danis in the first half and the same from Whitney Ballinger in the second. Danis, the junior from Mt. Sterling, bagged 19 points in the first 20 minutes. Ballinger, from Carrollton, Ky., had 22 points after the break and led all scorers with 27. Princeton, Ky.'s Melly Heaton, who scored 19, had 13 before the break. In all, the three had 71 of their team's 81 points.

Danis' line was 25 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Ballinger had 27 points and nine rebounds. Heaton ended with five 3's on 5 of 9 shooting from beyond the arc.

Campbellsville out-rebounded IWU 37-33, but could connect on only 16 of its 24 free throws.

Ballinger, the Lady Tigers' All-American, sat for 16 minutes of the first half which made CU's 43-31 half-time lead that much more impressive. CU hit five 3's in the first half, led by Heaton's trio from behind the arc. Danis and Heaton had 31 of the Lady Tigers 43  first-half points.

Campbellsville was able to keep Indiana Wesleyan (11-3) at bay in the second half, at one time leading by 19. The Lady Tigers forced 10 first-half Wildcat turnovers while only fumbling the ball five times themselves. But after intermission the turnover story was reversed.

Colvin is pleased with her team's 11-1 record going into Christmas break.

"To have only one loss, and that to the No. 1-ranked team on their court, you have to feel pretty good," said Colvin.

The Lady Tigers will get a couple of days off before conditioning Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. They leave December 31st for a trip to New Orleans and games against Loyola and Xavier.

"It doesn't get any easier," said Colvin. Those teams we play down there are pretty good too."

The Wildcats were led by Elaine Hensel's 25 points and she was supported by Kayla Thompson's 24, 21 in the second half.

Scoring

Campbellsville (81) - Ballinger 27, Heaton 19, Danis 25, Messer 8 and Dunn 2.

Indiana Wesleyan (72) - Douglas 2, Hessel 25, Thompson 24, Steinbarger 4, Smith 5, Brooks 2 Stoneking 4.