Dec. 29, 2007

By Gary Petit

GREENCASTLE, Ind. — No. 6-ranked DePauw (Ind.) jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back in defeating the Ohio Northern women’s basketball team Saturday afternoon 60-45 at the Neal Fieldhouse.

DePauw, the defending national champion, improves to 8-2 on the season while the Polar Bears drop to 9-3.

Sophomore Brittany Bogart led Northern with nine points and three rebounds. Senior Tara Butler chipped in with eight points while Alisha Rinehart added seven.

The Tigers did a good job of shutting down ONU’s scoring leaders as Jenny Markle was just 1-for-7 from the floor finishing with three points and center Erin Brand was held scoreless for just the third time in her career. Brand did however, pull down a team-high five rebounds.

DePauw was led by Gretchen Haehl and Jenna Fernandez’s 16 points. Haehl was 4-of-5 from long range and Fernandez was 7-of-10 from the field.

Trailing 9-0 early, Northern responded with a lay up by Leah Zimmerman followed by back-to-back three-pointers by Rinehart and Markle to cut the DePauw lead to one at 9-8 with 14:25 to play in the half.

But DePauw then went on a 21-6 run over the next 13 minutes to take its biggest lead of the half at 33-14. The Polar Bears scored the final six points of the period and went into the locker room down 33-20.

The Tigers opened the second half with a 21-8 run to build a commanding 54-28 lead with 8:49 to play and cruised to the 60-45 victory.

ONU shot just 25.6 percent (11-of-43) from the floor and 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from beyond the arc. The Polar Bears came into the game leading the nation at 45.9 percent from three-point range.

DePauw was 21-of-49 from the field for 42.9 percent and 8-of-17 from long range for 47.1 percent.

The Tigers also dominated on the glass, out rebounding Northern 42-26.

The Polar Bears will return to OAC-action on Jan. 9 as they will host Wilmington at 7:30 pm. Both teams are tied for first in the OAC at 4-1.