Women’s Basketball: Otterbein (11-8 Overall, 7-5 OAC) at #13 Ohio Northern (17-2 Overall, 11-1 OAC)
Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 7 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
Wednesday's Preview: The Polar Bears continue Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday hosting Otterbein … Northern leads the OAC standings by one game over No. 14 Baldwin Wallace and has a three-game lead on third-place Marietta … The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 21-25 … In the teams' first meeting this season, on Jan. 4, ONU came away with a 75-70 double-overtime win at Otterbein led by 22 points from senior Brynn Serbin and a 19-point, 13-rebound double-double from junior Kristen Luersman … Northern is ranked No. 13 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and the WBCA Top 25 Poll this week … ONU is coming off Saturday's 90-47 home win over Mount Union … The team made a school-record 17 3-pointers in the game … Sophomores Jada Benjamin and Abi Akamine were both 4-for-4 from beyond the arc … Benjamin led ONU with 16 points to go with 13 from Akamine and 12 from sophomore Brooke Allen … Serbin tallied a career-high eight assists … Through 19 games, Serbin (13.7 points per game), Allen (11.2) and Luersman (11.1) lead ONU in scoring … Serbin ranks third in the OAC in scoring average, and Allen is 10th … Luersman ranks second in the OAC in rebounding average with 8.4 per game and is seventh in the conference with 16 blocks … Serbin has an OAC-high 88 assists and 51 steals … Serbin has made a team-best 36 3-pointers, which ranks second in the OAC, and is shooting 35.6% from beyond the arc, which ranks seventh in the OAC … Serbin ranks second all-time at ONU with 193 career steals and is 16 shy of tying the program record of 209 set by Katie Mengos ('10-'13) … Serbin has 249 career assists, which ranks fourth all-time at ONU … Serbin ranks sixth all-time at ONU in 3-pointers made (109) … Northern leads the OAC in points per game (65.1), field goal percentage (42.1%), points per game allowed (51.6) and field goal percentage defense (32.1%) … Otterbein is coming off Saturday's 61-57 home loss to Muskingum … MU outscored OU 24-8 in the fourth quarter en route to the win … Junior Olivia Majors led the Cardinals with 18 points … Majors led OU with 19 points in the Cardinals' loss to ONU earlier this season … Otterbein is currently fourth in the OAC standings … Through 19 games, junior Katie McCrary leads OU with 15.8 points per game followed by redshirt seniors Kathleen DeCarlo (10.6) and Jenna Hoschouer (10.3) … DeCarlo leads the team with 7.0 rebounds per game … Hoschouer has a team-high 44 assists, 32 steals and 27 blocks … Senior Natalie Galaida has made a team-best 35 3-pointers and is shooting 44.3% from beyond the arc.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Serbin | 13.7 | 1. | Luersman | 8.4 | 1. | Serbin | 36 | 1. | Serbin | 88 | 1. | Serbin | 51 | ||||
| 2. | Allen | 11.2 | 2. | Serbin | 5.8 | 2. | Suprano | 23 | 2. | Luersman | 29 | 2. | Luersman | 27 | ||||
| 3. | Luersman | 11.1 | 3. | Allen | 5.2 | 3. | Knippen | 20 | 3. | Dials | 25 | 3. | Akamine | 16 | ||||
| Knippen | 16 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Otterbein by a 57-36 margin, including a 32-16 mark in Ada … Each team is 5-5 over the past 10 meetings … In the teams' meeting earlier this season, ONU came away with a 75-70 double-overtime win at Otterbein on Jan. 4.
Head Coach Mark Huelsman: Huelsman is in his third season at ONU and has an overall record of 41-18, a winning percentage of .695.
