No. 17 Women's Basketball picks up eighth straight win with 66-62 victory at Denison

By: Andrew Korba

GRANVILLE--The No.17 Ohio Northern women's basketball team won its eighth game in a row with a 66-62 road victory at Denison on Saturday afternoon at Livingston Gymnasium.

With the win, the Polar Bears are now 9-1 on the season, while the Big Red fall to 5-4.

Junior Cenzie Yoder led the Polar Bears with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

Senior Joanna Snyder also scored in double figures with 13 points.

ONU was ahead 60-49 with 7:29 remaining.

But the Big Red responded with a 7-0 run to make it 60-56 with 4:15 left.

ONU would put an end to the run on a layup by freshman Brooke Espenschied, expanding their lead to 62-56.

But Denison came right back and used a 6-0 run to tie things at 62-62 with 1:15 remaining.

Northern turned the ball over on their next possession, but the Polar Bears were able to force a turnover on Denison's ensuing possession.

Espenschied was then fouled and sunk both free throws to put the Polar Bears up 64-62 with 29 second left.

On Denison's next possession, Kinsey Bryant-Lees was fouled by Espenschied.

She missed both free throws and senior Morgan Dumbaugh brought down the rebound and was fouled with three seconds left.

Dumbaugh sunk her two free throws, putting ONU up 66-62 with three second left.

ONU used an early 9-0 run to open up a 15-7 lead.

Yoder scored four points during the run, Espenschied scored three points and senior Katie Mengos added a basket.

A layup by sophomore Jordan Kimes gave ONU their largest lead of the afternoon at 22-9 with 8:15 left in the first half.

The Big Red would chip away at the lead and Northern went into the half with a 35-27 lead.

The Polar Bears were 24-of-50 (48 percent) from the field, while Denison was 20-of-48 (41.7 percent).

The Polar Bears were a season best 16-of-17 (91.4 percent) from the free throw line, while the Big Red were 16-of-22 (72.7 percent).

ONU also won the rebounding battle 31-27 and outscored Denison in the paint by a 28-14 margin.

Ohio Northern will be in action again on Wednesday, when they return to OAC play at Otterbein. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.