Amy Bullimore scores 19 points, grabs 19 rebounds to lead #23 Women's Basketball to victory in season opener
By Tim Glon
CLEVELAND — Junior center Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds to lead the No. 23-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team to an 89-64 victory at Case Western Reserve in the 2016-17 season opener for both teams.
The Polar Bears (1-0 overall) also got 15 points off the bench from junior Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham) and 13 points from senior Britt Lauck (Lima/Shawnee).
The Spartans (0-1) were led by Hillary Heilmann with 17 points and Kara Hageman with 14 points.
ONU outscored CWR 22-11 in both the second and fourth quarters to win its season opener for the seventh consecutive year.
Trailing 18-15, Northern scored the final four points of the first quarter to lead 19-18.
The Polar Bears went on an 11-3 run to go ahead 32-23 with 4:09 left in the half, then used a 9-3 run to extend the lead to 41-29 at intermission.
Bullimore had a double-double by halftime with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
CWR pulled within 47-39 with 7:05 left in the third quarter, but ONU scored the next nine points to go up 56-39 just 2:08 later and were not threatened the rest of the way.
ONU made 38-of-75 field goal attempts for 50.7 percent and were 9-of-20 from 3-point range for 45.0 percent. Case made 23-of-60 field goals for 38.3 percent and were 12-of-30 from long range for 40.0 percent.
Northern won the rebounding battle 48-29.
The Polar Bears will return to action Friday and Saturday at the Denison Tip-Off Tournament. ONU will face Mount Saint Joseph at 8 pm Friday and will play Denison on Saturday at 3 pm.