Serbin breaks all-time career steals mark as No. 11 Women’s Basketball defeats Heidelberg to clinch OAC Regular Season title

By Wes Mayberry

TIFFIN — Led by senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) and junior Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings), the No. 11 Ohio Northern women's basketball team clinched the Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season championship with a 63-47 win at Heidelberg on Wednesday night at Seiberling Gymnasium.

The Polar Bears improve to 21-3 overall and 15-2 in the OAC while dropping the Student Princes to 2-22, 0-17.

Northern secured the OAC Regular Season title with one game remaining in the regular season thanks to its two-game lead in the standings over second-place Baldwin Wallace and Marietta. This marks Northern's first regular season conference title since the 2017-18 season and eighth overall, giving the Polar Bears the top seed for next week's OAC Tournament.

Serbin led the Polar Bears with 20 points and a career-high eight steals to go with six rebounds and two assists. She now owns the program's all-time record for career steals with 213, surpassing the previous record of 209 set by Katie Mengos from 2010-2013.

Luersman tallied her seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 16 points and tying her career-high with 15 rebounds.

Senior Kasey Knippen (Ottoville) added eight points for ONU.

Hallie Rogers led the Student Princes in scoring with 14 points.

Northern opened Wednesday's game with back-to-back 3-pointers from Luersman and Serbin but was unable to pull away.

HU later took a 14-12 lead before Luersman sent the game into the second quarter tied at 14 courtesy of a layup with 30 seconds left in the opening period.

The Polar Bears held Heidelberg scoreless for nearly five minutes to open the second quarter and ended the period on a 14-3 run over the final 4:23 to take a 32-21 lead into halftime after HU went up 19-18 on an and-1 from Rogers.

That run included six points from Luersman, four from sophomore Abi Akamine (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna) and two each from Knippen and Serbin.

The Polar Bears extended their lead to 45-31 going into the fourth quarter en route to the 16-point victory.

Ohio Northern made 22-of-51 field goals for 43.1% and was 5-of-18 from 3-point range for 27.8%, while Heidelberg made 19-of-54 field goals for 35.2% and was 4-of-20 from beyond the arc for 20%.

ONU was 14-of-21 from the free-throw line for 66.7%, and HU was 5-of-13 for 38.5%.

Northern out-rebounded Heidelberg by a 42-28 margin.

The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday at OAC foe Muskingum at 4 p.m. to close out the regular season.