No. 20 Women's Basketball gets double-doubles from Luersman and Allen in 68-59 victory at John Carroll
By Tim Glon
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — Junior Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings) and sophomore Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) each had double-doubles to lead the No. 20-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team to a 68-59 victory at John Carroll on Saturday afternoon at the DeCarlo Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 12-1 overall and stay on top of the Ohio Athletic Conference standings with a 6-0 record, while the Blue Streaks fall to 8-6, 3-3.
Luersman scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Allen had career-highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Luersman has now had double-doubles in three consecutive games and Allen had her first double-double of her career.
Senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) added 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals and freshman Mackenzie Suprano (Cutler/Waterford) chipped in 10 points for ONU.
Halle Landies led John Carroll with 14 points.
With the score tied at 55-55 in the fourth quarter, Suprano nailed a three, Brooke scored on a put-back and Luersman scored inside as Ohio Northern rattled off seven straight to lead 62-55 with 4:54 left in the game.
JCU would get within 62-58 at the 4:10 mark, but the Polar Bears out out-score the hosts 6-1 the rest of the way to ice the game.
John Carroll led 20-16 after the first quarter, but Ohio Northern rallied for a 34-30 lead at halftime and led 50-47 after three quarters.
Ohio Northern made 29-of-66 field goals for 43.0 percent and was 4-of-14 from 3-point range for 28.6 percent%, while John Carroll made 21-of-60 field goals for 35.0 percent and was 9-of-27 from beyond the arc for 33.3 percent.
ONU was 6-of-17 from the free-throw line for 35.3 percent, and JCU was 8-of-17 for 47.1 percent.
Northern out-rebounded the Blue Streaks by a 42-36 margin.
The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. home contest against the league's co-leader and No. 7-ranked Baldwin Wallace at the ONU Sports Center.