Alissa Stahler leads way for Women’s Basketball on Senior Day in 73-56 win over Muskingum

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — Senior Alissa Stahler (Lima/Shawnee) tallied 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the Ohio Northern women's basketball team to a 73-56 win over Muskingum on Saturday afternoon during Senior Day at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears close the regular season at 16-7 overall and 10-6 in the Ohio Athletic Conference while dropping Muskingum to 9-14, 4-12.

Junior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) and senior Lexi Jacobs (Wapakoneta) joined Stahler in double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Senior Jaidyn Hale (Lima/Bath) added nine points.

Caitlyn DeMassimo and Halle Morehead led Muskingum with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

ONU opened Saturday's game with a special starting lineup featuring five seniors in Stahler, Jacobs, Kate Iliff (Lorain/Steele), Molly Palecek (Wadsworth) and Annie Weckesser (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne).

The Polar Bears and Fighting Muskies played a tightly contested first quarter that ended with the teams tied at 17-all.

MU opened the second quarter by taking the lead on a Taylor DeMassimo 3-pointer but would not score again until 5:54 remained in the period as ONU went on a 9-0 run highlighted by a 3-pointer from Jacobs.

MU fought back to tie the score at 26-all, but the Polar Bears once again responded with a 9-0 run sparked by four points from Hale.

Overall, ONU outscored MU 23-12 in the second quarter to take a 40-29 edge into halftime.

The Muskies cut the deficit to eight, 53-45, going into the fourth quarter but were outscored 20-11 over the final 10 minutes.

Stahler led the way for the Polar Bears in their strong close to the game, scoring nine fourth-quarter points.

Ohio Northern made 25-of-53 field goals for 47.2% and was 5-of-12 from 3-point range for 41.7%, while the Muskies made 21-of-51 field goals for 41.2% and were 7-of-24 from beyond the arc for 29.2%.

The Polar Bears were 18-of-22 from the foul line for 81.1%, and MU was 7-of-12 for 58.3%.

ONU out-rebounded MU by a 34-28 margin, forced 19 Muskie turnovers and held a 34-22 edge in points in the paint.

The Polar Bears return to the court on Tuesday at Otterbein at 6 p.m. in the OAC Tournament quarterfinals.