Balanced offensive attack propels No. 15 Women's Basketball to 63-52 victory over Mount Union

By Caleb Scott

ALLIANCE — The No. 15-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team used a balanced offensive scoring attack to claim its seventh straight victory as they defeated Mount Union 63-52 at the MAAC on Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears improve to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings, while the Purple Raiders drop to 3-5, 1-2.

Senior Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) scored a game-best 15 points, added four rebounds and three blocks, while senior Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham) chipped in 10 points for ONU.

With 145 career blocks, Bullimore now moves into second place all-time at ONU for blocks in her career.

After an early back-and-forth battle in the first quarter, Northern used a 10-0 run capped off by back-to-back free throws from junior Alyssa Manley (Lima/Bath) to take a 17-7 lead with 2:21 left in the quarter. MtU would score seven of the final nine points in the quarter to close the gap to 19-14.

The Purple Raiders were able to cut the lead to 24-23 with 5:23 remaining in the first half to force an ONU timeout before senior Cheyenne Raker (Columbus/Westerville South) used a personal 5-0 run capped by a 3-pointer with 2:46 remaining in the second quarter to push the lead to 29-23.

ONU would hold a 30-27 advantage at the intermission.

Northern opened the second half on a 10-0 run, as Bullimore scored the first eight points of the second half and a pair of free throws from senior Courtney Cramer (Arcadia) capped the run to give Northern a 40-27 lead with 6:50 left in the quarter.

The Polar Bears' biggest lead of the afternoon would come with 2:37 left in the third quarter as Manley nailed a 3-pointer to give ONU a comfortable 49-32 lead.

Trailing 54-43, the Purple Raiders used a 6-0 run to cut into the ONU lead and pull within 54-49 with 3:29 left in the contest.

From there, Northern would shoot a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line to seal the victory.

The Polar Bears shot 21-of-54 (38.9 percent) from the field, including 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range, while the Purple Raiders shot 20-of-61 (32.8 percent) from the field, including 6-of-31 (19.4 percent) from 3-point range.

ONU won the rebounding battle by a 44-36 margin.

The Polar Bears return to action Saturday, Dec. 16 as they host John Carroll at the ONU Sports Center at 3 pm.