ONU outlasts Otterbein 76-69 for hard-fought OAC victory

Dec. 19, 2007

By Gary Petit

WESTERVILLE — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team caught fire from three-point range in the second half to pull out a hard-fought 76-69 victory over Otterbein Wednesday night in the Rike Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 8-2 on the season and are now alone in first place in the OAC with a 4-1 mark. Otterbein falls to 5-5 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

Four Polar Bears reached double figures in the game led by senior Jenny Markle with 15 points on 4-of-8 from long range. Markle came into the game leading the nation in three-point percentage at 60 percent.

Fellow senior Leah Zimmerman chipped in with a season-high13 points and six rebounds while Erin Brand and Megan Cevaco each added 12. Brand also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds as Cevasco snagged seven boards.

The Cardinals Ana Gamble was 5-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc and finished with a game-high 17 points.

In a slow moving first half that featured 22 combined turnovers, Otterbein took its biggest lead at 12-8 before Markle's first three-pointer of the game sparked an 18-8 run for the Polar Bears.

Markle added a second three-ball followed by an old-fashioned three-point play from Brittany Bogart to give the Bears a 26-20 lead with 3:43 to play in the half.

Otterbein cut the lead to two at 31-29 but the Polar Bears scored the last four points of the half to take a 35-29 lead into the locker room.

Northern came out of the locker room and opened up a 40-32 lead with 15 minutes to play.

Gamble then knocked down a three-pointer to cut the lead to 40-35 but ONU responded with three-straight three-balls by Zimmerman, Alisha Rinehart and Markle to push the lead out to 49-35 with 12:51 to play.

Otterbein then went on an 8-1 run over the next three minutes, keyed by two Gamble three's to bring the Cardinals to within seven at 50-43.

The runs continued as an Emily Culbertson three-pointer sparked an 11-4 run for ONU that shoved the lead back to 15 at 62-47 with six minutes remaining. Brand was 6-for-6 from the free throw line during the run.

Gamble then hit her fifth three-pointer of the game, followed by three consecutive and-one opporunties by Karli Volkmer and Katy Miller to pull OC as close as 62-58 with 4:28 to play in the game.

That would be as close as the Cardinals would get as ONU made 10-of-14 free throws in the final four and a half minutes to secure the victory.

"We got off to a slow start because of too many turnovers in the first half," said ONU head coach Michele Durand. "We came out in the second half and ran our offense and were able to get some open looks."

Northern entered the game as the nation's top three-point shooting team at 44 percent and continued the hot shooting making 9-of-18 three point attempts in the game. Otterbein did one better, shooting 54 percent (6-of-11) from three-point land.

"Anytime you can come down here and get a win, its great," said Durand. "This is a tough team to play on their home court."

The Polar Bears will return to action this Saturday when they travel Earlham (Ind.) for a non-conference matchup at 2 p.m.