Hot shooting leads Mount Union to 59-46 victory over ONU in OAC Quarterfinals

Feb. 27, 2008

By Gary Petit

ADA — Hot second-half shooting leads Mount Union to a 59-46 victory over Ohio Northern Wednesday evening in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament at the ONU Sports Center.

The Purple Raiders improve to 10-16 on the season and will play Wilmington in the semifinals on Thursday at 7:30 pm. ONU ends its season 19-7 overall.

The contest was originally scheduled for Tuesday night, but was postponed to Wednesday due to a winter storm that came through the area.

The Purple Raiders shot 57.1 percent (12-of-21) in the second half and 44.2 percent for the game. Northern struggled from the floor, shooting just 23.9 percent (14-of-60) on the night.

Katie Crider led all scorers with 16 points on 4-of-8 from 3-point land for the Raiders. Point guard Ellie Geiger chipped in with 11 and Alicia Williams added 10.

ONU was led by Alisha Rinehart with 14 points. Senior Jenny Markle had 11 points and fellow senior Erin Brand added 10. Markle ended her career as ONU's all-time career 3-point leader with 239 and will likely finish as the NCAA Division III all-time 3-point percentage leader at 50.4 percent.

Mount Union led 25-20 at halftime, but the Polar Bears went on an 8-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Jenny Markle, to regain the lead at 28-27 with 16:15 left in the game.

But the Purple Raiders would answer with an 11-0 run to go up 38-28 with 10:24 to play.

A 6-0 Mount Union run would push the lead to 47-34 with 4:52 remaining. The Polar Bears could not get any closer than nine the rest of the way as MUC finished the game perfect from the free throw line at 16-of-16.

This was the final game for ONU seniors Mallory Rentz, Jenny Markle, Tara Bultler, Erin Brand, Megan Cevasco and Leah Zimmerman.