Women's Basketball rallies late but falls to Ohio Wesleyan 64-60
By Brandt Marshall
ADA — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team fell 64-60 to Ohio Wesleyan Tuesday afternoon at the King Horn Sports Center.
The Battling Bishops improve to 3-3 overall while dropping the Polar Bears to 3-1.
Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) stuffed the stat sheet for Northern with 18 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Sophomore Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) scored a career-high 14 points for the second game in a row.
Sophomore Abi Akamine (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna) pitched in a career-high seven points, freshman Mackenzie Suprano (Culter/Waterford) and sophomore Layla Dials (Willard) each added six points. Suprano added a career-best seven rebounds.
OAC Player of the Week Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings) added six points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists
Kasey Schipfer led Wesleyan with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Elizabeth Homan and Graci Semptimphelter added 14 points each.
Both teams got off to a slow start with each team missing their first three field goal attempts, Homan broke the scoreless tie with a layup with 7:12 remaining in the 1st quarter. The hosts quickly overcame a 4-0 deficit to lead 5-4 with a made free throw from Serbin. The visitors would quickly respond with a 13-4 run to close out the quarter ahead 17-9 and take a lead they would not relinquish.
The Polar Bears used a 10-2 run in the middle of the second quarter to close the gap to 21-19. The Battling Bishops then closed the remaining 4:54 on a 13-3 run and lead 34-22 at the break.
Northern controlled the paint to start the second half, scoring 12 of their 20 third quarter points from inside the key. Paired with a strong defensive performance by out rebounding Wesleyan 12-2 in the quarter, led by Serbin and Luersman with four each, Northern narrowed the gap to 45-42 by the end of the third quarter.
The Polar Bears were able to continue their third quarter momentum into the start of the fourth quarter getting as close as 1 point on two occasions but were unable to take the lead. Ohio Wesleyan called a timeout with 4:33 leading 55-54. From then the visitors closed out the game outscoring the hosts 9-6.
Ohio Northern made 23-of-54 field goals for 42.6% and was 3-of-21 from 3-point range for 14.3%, while OWU made 25-of-61 field goals for 41.0% and was 6-of-18 from beyond the arc for 33.3%.
ONU was 11-of-13 from the free-throw line for 84.6%, and Wesleyan was 8-of-12 for 66.7%.
The Polar Bears tallied 15 assists in the game and out-rebounded the Bishops by a 44-25 margin.
Northern returns to action on Saturday at No. 8 Trine in a 3:00 pm tip-off.