No. 19 Women's Basketball uses late surge to stay perfect with hard fought 63-54 victory over Mount Union

By Caleb Scott

ADA — The No. 19-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team grinded out a hard fought 63-54 victory over Mount Union Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center to stay perfect on the season.

The Polar Bears improve to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conferencem while the Purple Raiders fall to 4-4, 1-2.

Juniors Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) and Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham) led ONU offensively with 11 points each.

Bullimore also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

Sophomore Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carroll) added 10 points for Northern, while senior Angela Tesny (Medina) added a game-high five assists.

After falling behind 12-5 late in the first quarter, the Polar Bears would use a 6-1 run behind layups from junior Cheyenne Raker (Columbus/Westerville South) and senior Amauria Campbell (Cincinnati/Summit Country Day) and a buzzer-beating jumper from Tesny to pull within 13-11 at the end of the first period.

A quick 3-pointer from senior Britt Lauck (Lima/Shawnee) have Northern its first lead of the afternoon as ONU pulled ahead 14-13 with 9:45 remaining in the second quarter.

After a MtU layup evened the score at 24-24, Northern would close the half on a 10-4 run to push the lead to 34-28 at the break.

The Purple Raiders were able to tie the game up at 42-all in the third period before Northern used an 11-0 run to take a commanding 53-42 lead 8:40 remaining in the contest.

MtU would pull within four late in the fourth quarter, but the Polar Bears proved to be too much down the stretch as they went on to win 63-54.

Northern shot 23-of-60 (38.3 percent) from the field, including 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from the 3-point line.

The Purple Raiders won the rebounding battle by a 47-38 margin.

The Polar Bears will return to the court Saturday as they travel to John Carroll to take on the Blue Streaks at 3 pm.