Bullimore's career-high 30 points leads No. 21 Women's Basketball in 64-56 loss to Otterbein

By Caleb Scott

ADA — Senior Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) tallied a career-high 30 points to lead the No. 21-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team as it fell to Otterbein 64-56 at the ONU Sports Center on Senior Night.

The Polar Bears fall to 20-4 overall, and 14-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Cardinals improve to 16-8, 12-5.

Northern recognized seniors Courtney Cramer (Arcadia), Cheyenne Raker (Columbus/Westerville South), Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham), Alexis Kirkbride (Zanesville/Bishop Rosecrans) and Bullimore prior to the contest.

Bullimore had a career-evening to celebrate Senior Night as she poured in a career-high 30 points and added 10 rebounds to complete the double-double.

Bullimore also recorded four blocks to lead the way for the Polar Bears defensively.

Sophomore Abby Weeks (West Chester/Mount Notre Dame) chipped in 10 points for Northern and added three assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Otterbein saw three players in double-figures led by Ali Cartnal's 17 points.

Northern struggled out of the gate as it shot only 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from the field in first quarter and fell behind 13-9.

A pair of Bullimore free throws with 8:14 left in the second quarter cut the OU lead to 15-13 before a quick 5-0 spurt from the Cardinals pushed the lead to 20-13.

Weeks would help Northern take some momentum into halftime as she hit a jumper with 1:06 to cut the deficit to 30-23 at the break.

The third quarter was all Bullimore as she scored 14 of ONU's 16 points to help Northern climb within 43-39 with one period remaining.

A layup from junior Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carroll) and a jumper from Cramer to open the fourth quarter knotted the game at 43-all with 8:58 left in the game.

Otterbein used a 13-2 run over the next several minutes to take a 56-45 lead with 5:09 left in the contest.

Northern would take one more stab at the Cardinals as Kirkbride drilled a 3-pointer and Bullimore followed that with a pair a free throws to cut the lead to 59-56 with 1:34 left in the contest.

Otterbein would score the next five points to close the contest out.

ONU shot 23-of-58 (39.7 percent) from the field, including 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range, while the Cardinals were 17-of-50 (34.0 percent) from the field and 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from the 3-point line.

The Polar Bears edged OU in the rebounding battle by a 36-34 margin.

Northern will return to action on Saturday afternoon as they travel to Marietta to take on the Pioneers in the regular season finale. A victory at Marietta will clinch the No. 1 seed in next week's OAC Tournament and will clinch the Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season title.