Jordan Kimes posts another double-double to lift Women's Basketball past No. 17 John Carroll 74-71
By Tim Glon
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — Junior Jordan Kimes registered her fifth double-double of the season to lead the Ohio Northern women's basketball team to a 74-71 victory at league-leading and No. 17-ranked John Carroll on Sunday at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 13-4 overall and 6-4 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Blue Streaks fall to 13-2, 8-2.
Kimes had team-highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Sara Kocian had 12 points and senior Cenzie Yoder scored 10 points for ONU.
Melissa Spahar had 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead John Carroll.
Sophomore Karissa Steffas nailed a 3-pointer and Kimes followed with a basket to give ONU a 49-48 lead with nine minutes to play.
Spahar hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 59-59 with 4:24 left, but senior Taylor Hermiller answered with a 3-point play with 3:46 to go to give ONU the lead for good at 62-59.
Yoder scored with 2:32 remaining to make it 67-63 and sophomore Brooke Espenschied added a basket at the 1:51 mark to put Northern on top 69-63.
Spahar made one of two free throws with 37 seconds remaining to pull JCU within 72-71, but Yoder hit two free throws with 13 seconds to play to extend the lead to 74-71.
After a timeout by the Blue Streaks, a 3-pointer at the buzzer missed the mark and ONU held on for the victory.
JCU opened the game on an 8-1 run in the first 3:16, only to see ONU regain the lead at 19-16 with eight minutes left.
But the Blue Streaks would close out the half on a 12-2 run to lead 28-21 at intermission.
Ohio Northern made 25-of-59 of its field goal attempts for 42.4 percent, while John Carroll was 21-of-57 from the floor for 36.8 percent.
ONU was 7-of-14 from 3-point range for 50 percent, compared to 3-of-10 by JCU.
Northern won the rebounding battle by a slim 38-37 margin.
The Polar Bears will return home for two games next week, hosting Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday and Marietta on Saturday.