Bullimore's fifth consecutive double-double leads No. 14 Women's Basketball to 72-57 victory over No. 18 Marietta
By Caleb Scott
ADA — Senior Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) recorded her fifth consecutive double-double as the No. 14-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team snapped No. 18-ranked Marietta's 12-game winning streak 72-57 in a battle of Ohio Athletic Conference unbeatens on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears posted their 12th consecutive victory and moved to 12-1 overall and 6-0 in the OAC, while the Pioneers fall to 12-1, 5-1.
Bullimore poured in a season-best 23 points to lead the way for Northern and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to complete her fifth consecutive double-double.
The senior is now 44 points shy of tying former Polar Bear standout Morgan Dumbaugh as Ohio Northern's all-time leading scorer.
Bullimore is also 52 rebounds shy of tying former Polar Bear Robin Patterson for most rebounds in school history.
Junior Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carrol) added 12 points and a game-high six assists for the Polar Bears, while senior Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham) chipped in 11 points.
With the score knotted a 10-10 in the first quarter, junior Alyssa Manley (Lima/Bath) would follow a Dirksen jumper with a 3-pointer to force a MC timeout and take a 15-10 lead with 3:37 remaining in the first quarter.
Northern would open a 19-13 lead heading into the second quarter following a pair of free throws from Black.
On its opening possession of the second quarter, Bullimore found senior Alexis Kirkbride (Zanesville/Bishop Rosecrans) on the opposite side of the floor where she hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 22-13.
After Marietta answered with a 3-pointer of its own, Northern used an 8-0 run capped off by an and-one from sophomore Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local) to grab its biggest lead of the first half at 30-16 with 2:56 remaining in the half.
ONU would hold a 32-22 lead at the intermission.
The third quarter featured a back-and-forth battle before Dirksen hit a jumper with nine seconds left in the quarter to stretch ONU's lead to 47-36 heading into the final period of play.
ONU grabbed its biggest lead of the afternoon at the 9:17 mark of the fourth quarter following a Bullimore layup to push the lead to 51-36.
MC was able to get as close as eight points in the fourth quarter before Northern went 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds to seal the 72-57 victory.
The Polar Bears shot 23-of-49 (46.9 percent) from the field, including 4-of-10 (40.0 percent) from 3-point range, while the Pioneers were 22-of-62 (35.5 percent) from the field, and 6-of-28 (21.4 percent) from 3-point range.
Northern won the battle on the boards by a 38-30 margin.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday evening as they welcome Baldwin Wallace to the ONU Sports Center for a 7:30 pm tipoff.
