Balanced offensive attack leads No. 24 Women's Basketball to 71-56 victory over Otterbein

By Caleb Scott

ADA -- Three Polar Bears scored in double figures as the No. 24-ranked women's basketball team defeated Otterbein 71-56 Wednesday evening in the home opener at the ONU Sports Center. 

The Polar Bears improve to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Cardinals fall to 4-2, 0-1. 

Junior Britt Lauck led the way for Ohio Northern with 15 points, while senior Karissa Steffas and sophomore Amy Bullimore added 12 points each.

Bullimore added a game-high three blocks on the evening while senior Brooke Espenschied posted a game-high nine rebounds.

After Otterbein scored the first two points of the contest, Northern would go on a 17-0 run to get the early 17-2 advantage with 1:57 remaining in the first quarter.

OC would fight back with a 8-0 run to close the gap to 17-10 with 9:50 remaining in the second quarter.

Northern would answer with a 9-0 run capped off by a three pointer from sophomore Courtney Cramer to extend the lead to 26-10 with 5:12 left in the first half. 

A three pointer from Lauck with just five seconds remaining in the second quarter would give Ohio Northern a 33-16 advantage at the intermission. 

ONU would get its biggest lead of the evening after senior Carly Thomas made a layup to put the Polar Bears ahead 40-18 with 6:59 remaining in the third quarter.

Northern would go on to win the game 71-56.

Ohio Northern outrebounded Otterbein 44-37 on the evening.

The Polar Bears shot 22-of-52 (42.3 percent) from the field, including 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) from beyond the arc. The Cardinals shot 21-of-68 (30.9 percent) from the field and 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from three point land.

The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday as they travel to John Carroll for a 3 pm tipoff.