Women’s Basketball: Ohio Northern (17-7 Overall) at #12 John Carroll (21-3 Overall) – OAC Tournament Semifinals

Thursday, February 24, 2022, 7 p.m. - DeCarlo Varsity Center, University Heights, Ohio

| OAC Tournament page |

Thursday's Preview: The Polar Bears are the No. 5 seed in this week's Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament and will travel to play top-seeded No. 12 John Carroll in the semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the DeCarlo Varsity Center … This marks the fourth straight season ONU and JCU have met in the OAC Tournament … The winner advances to Saturday's championship game to face the winner of the other semifinal game between second-seeded No. 14 Baldwin Wallace and sixth-seeded Mount Union … Northern is aiming for its fifth OAC Tournament title … The Polar Bears won the crown in 2017, 2013, 1988 and 1986 … ONU has also been runner-up six times … Northern advanced to the semifinals of last season's tournament before falling 69-38 at 14th-ranked John Carroll … ONU dropped both meetings with John Carroll during the regular season, falling 54-49 at home on Jan. 8 and 68-43 in University Heights on Feb. 12 … The Polar Bears are coming off Tuesday's 62-46 win at fourth-seeded Otterbein in the quarterfinals … Seniors Lexi Jacobs and Jaidyn Hale led the way with 15 and 14 points, respectively, and junior Brynn Serbin added 10 points, eight rebounds and six steals … Northern is averaging 61.9 points per game and allowing an OAC-low 50.4 points per contest … The Polar Bears are shooting 38.7% from the field, 28.8% on 3-pointers and 72.2% from the foul line … Senior Alissa Stahler (9.6 points per game) leads ONU in scoring followed by Serbin (8.9), Hale (8.5) and sophomore Kristen Luersman (6.9) … Stahler ranks 10th in the OAC in rebounding (5.6 per game) and is tied for eighth in blocks (23) … Serbin leads the OAC in steals (64) and ranks third in the league in assists (74) … Serbin ranks ninth on ONU's all-time leaderboard in steals (138), and her 159 career assists are 14 shy of cracking the top 20 on the program's all-time leaderboard in that category … Serbin holds the program record for most steals in a season for a junior ... Sophomore Kasey Knippen leads the OAC in shooting 43.1% (22-of-51) from 3-point range … John Carroll enters Thursday's game ranked No. 12 nationally in the D3hoops.com poll and is coming off Tuesday's 79-64 home win over eighth-seeded Wilmington in the quarterfinals for its fourth straight victory … Nicole Heffington scored 23 points in the game and broke the program's career field goals made record … Heffington is nine points away from breaking the program's all-time scoring record … Olivia Nagy added 10 points and 22 rebounds in the game, breaking the program's single-season record for rebounds … JCU is averaging an OAC-high 74.9 points per game while allowing 58.8 points per contest … The Blue Streaks are shooting 44.0% from the floor, 29.8% on 3-pointers and 73.9% from the foul line … JCU leads the OAC in field-goal and free-throw percentage … Heffington (15.3 points per game) and Nagy (15.1) lead the team in scoring, ranking second and third, respectively, in the OAC … Nagy leads the OAC in rebounding with 13.5 per game and blocks with 101 … Heffington (69) and Abby Adler (68) rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the OAC in assists.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with John Carroll by a 43-32 margin, including a 20-20 mark on the road … ONU is 2-6 all-time against JCU in the OAC Tournament … ONU lost 69-38 at JCU in the semifinals of last season's OAC Tournament … The teams last met earlier this season on Feb. 12 when JCU came away with a 68-43 home win.

Head Coach Mark Huelsman: Huelsman is in his second season at ONU and has an overall record of 24-15, a winning percentage of .615.