Big second half leads the No. 10-ranked Women's Basketball team past Baldwin Wallace on Senior Night
By Ashley Birchmeier
ADA — The No. 10-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team used a strong second half to defeat Baldwin Wallace 62-43 on Senior Night at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears remain perfect at home, improving to 21-3 overall, 16-1 Ohio Athletic Conference, while Baldwin Wallace falls to 14-10, 10-7.
Prior to the contest, ONU recognized seniors Brooke Espenschied, Karissa Steffas, Precious Ramsey, and Carly Thomas for their many contributions to the women's basketball program.
In their four seasons at ONU, the seniors have compiled a 90-17 overall record, 63-7 OAC record, three OAC Regular Season titles, one OAC Tournament title, and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Sophomore Amy Bullimore would lead all scores in the contest, netting a game-high 14 points.
Junior Britt Lauck added 13 points, while Espenschied and Thomas both chipped in eight points a piece.
Northern dominated the second half, out scoring the Yellow Jackets by a 37-24 margin.
Espenschied would lead the way for the Polar Bears, scoring eight straight points in the fourth quarter to give Northern the 49-32 advantage with 6:06 remaining.
Sophomore Courtney Cramer would pick up right where the senior left off, netting another three pointer moments later to extend the ONU lead to 52-32.
Northern would continue its hot shooting late into the fourth quarter as they would finish the contest shooting 6-for-14 from three point and 24-for-50 from the field.
In the opening period, the two teams exchanged points for several minutes before a layup from Lauck as time expired would give ONU the 14-9 advantage.
The Yellow Jackets came out strong in the second quarter cutting the lead to 14-13 before a Polar Bear 6-0 run would extend the lead once more.
ONU would out score Baldwin Wallace 11-10 in the second quarter to claim the 25-19 advantage at the break.
Northern would go on to out rebound the Yellow Jackets by a 35-28 margin en route to the victory.
Baldwin Wallace was led in the contest by Katie Smith with a team-high 10 points.
ONU returns to action Saturday as they conclude regular season play at Marietta, tip off set for 3 pm.