WILMINGTON, Ohio – Ohio Northern University (ONU) held the Wilmington College women's basketball team's offense, which entered the game No. 2 in the country in scoring, to its worst offensive game in a 72-64 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory at Hermann Court on Wednesday evening.
The Polar Bears, who are receiving votes to be ranked in the most recent D3Hoops.com Top 25 Poll, defeated the Quakers for the 14th straight time.
The game was tied 10-10 midway through the first quarter, but a 9-3 run to close it gave ONU a six-point edge. The teams would trade baskets to open the second quarter, but a quick 5-0 spurt from the Polar Bears put the visitors up double digits. A basket from Kennedy Lewis at the buzzer made the deficit 37-28 for the hosts at halftime.
Wilmington would get within four points on a Michelle Lee layup at the 6:15 mark of the third quarter, but a 9-0 ONU run put the Polar Bears up 53-40. The Quakers would cut that deficit in half late, but never got closer than the four-point deficit in the third quarter.
Both teams shot between 40-42 percent from the field along with eight made triples for ONU and seven for WC. Oddly, both teams struggled for the charity stripe as the Polar Bears made 16-of-26 (61.5 percent and the Quakers converted 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) of their free throw attempts.
The difference in the game was the rebounding battle as ONU doubled up Wilmington 50-25 including 18 offensive rebounds.
Four of Wilmington's five starters finished in double figures in scoring including 14 points from both McKayla and Hannah Binkley. Lewis had 10 points along with Kelly Noll, who also grabbed four rebounds, dished out three assists and had three steals.
Jaclyn Yankle led ONU with 15 points while Emily Mescher had a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) to go along with four assists. Brynn Serbin added 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals off the bench.
Wilmington (4-2, 1-1 OAC) hosts the University of Mount Union at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
