Jaidyn Hale's first career double-double leads Women's Basketball in 61-54 loss to Capital

By Tim Glon

ADA — Junior Jaidyn Hale (Lima/Bath) recorded her first career double-double to lead the Ohio Northern women's basketball team in a 61-54 loss to Capital on Saturday night at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears fall to 4-6 overall and are 4-6 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Crusaders improve to 4-4, 4-4.

Hale scored 10 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. Sophomore Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) had a team-high 13 points for ONU.

Capital was led by Kaylee Cyphers with a game-high 16 points.

Junior Annie Weckesser (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) scored all six of her points to spark a 14-0 run to give Ohio Northern a 38-34 lead with 2:40 left in the game.

The Polar Bears got a basket by junior Kate iliff (Lorain/Steele) at the 5:27 mark of the fourth quarter to go up 49-46.

CU responded with an 8-0 run to take a 57-49 lead with 50 seconds left.

Hale scored with 36 seconds left and Serbin hit a 3-pointer with 24 ticks to go to make it 59-54, but Capital was able to hang on for the win.

"Jaidyn Hale was a real spark for us tonight," ONU head coach Mark Huelsman said. "She was terrific on the boards and played a good all-around game. I need to do a better job of getting us prepared to play the game."

The Polar Bears made 22-of-68 field goal attempts for 32.4 percent and made 9-of-31 3-pointers for 29.0 percent. The Crusaders made good on 21-of-42 field goal attempts and were 6-of-13 from beyond the arc.

Northern won the rebounding battle 36-33, which included an 18-5 advantage on the offensive end.

ONU will wrap up its regular season next weekend with a home-and-home series with Baldwin Wallace.