Women's Basketball: #21 Ohio Northern (20-4 Overall, 14-3 OAC) at Marietta (21-3 Overall, 14-3 OAC)
Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 - 3 pm - Ban Johnson Arena, Marietta, Ohio
Saturday's Contest: The No. 21-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team will travel to Marietta for its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon ... Saturday's contest will have major implications in the Ohio Athletic Conference race as the winner between Ohio Northern and Marietta will be dubbed the OAC Regular Season Champions and will earn the No. 1 seed in the OAC Tournament next week ... Northern will host a quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday evening at the ONU Sports Center in part of a double-header as the men's basketball team will also host a quarterfinal matchup at the ONU Sports Center on Tuesday ... The Polar Bears enter the contest after dropping their last two contests, making it the first time ONU has dropped back-to-back contests since the 2013-14 season where Northern fell in the OAC Tournament title game and fell to Transylvania (Ky.) in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament ... Through 24 games this season, Northern is led by senior Amy Bullimore's 17.2 points per contest, which also ranks first in the OAC ... Bullimore also leads the team and ranks second in the OAC in rebounds per contest (9.7) and field goal percentage (.550) ... Bullimore also has a conference-best 46 blocks this season ... The senior dropped a career-high 30 points and added 10 rebounds in ONU's loss to Otterbein on Wednesday evening ... Junior Jenna Dirksen currently ranks second on the team with 9.1 ppg and ranks first on the team and sixth in the OAC with 71 assists ... Senior Alexis Kirkbride currently leads the team and ranks fourth in the OAC, shooting .433 from 3-point range ... Marietta enters the contest riding a 4-game winning streak ... With its victory over Muskingum on Wednesday evening, the Pioneers set a single season record for most wins at Marietta ... MC is currently paced offensively by senior Brooke Borich's 13.8 ppg, while senior Amisha Herd is also averaging double figures and ranks second on the team with 12.9 ppg ... Herd currently leads the conference in assists (102) and steals (81) ... Junior forward Corrie Burkhardt currently ranks second on the team and in the OAC with 57 steals ... The junior also leads the team and ranks fourth in the OAC with 8.1 rebound per contest.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #10 Lindsey Black, Sr. (7.6 ppg, 50 assists)
G - #20 Courtney Cramer, Sr. (6.0 ppg, 26 3PT FG)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, So. (9.1 ppg, 71 assists)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Jr. (2.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
F - #44 Amy Bullimore, Sr. (17.2 ppg, 9.7 rpg)
ONU Statistical Leaders
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | Blocks | |||||||||||||||||
| 1. | Bullimore | 17.2 | 1. | Bullimore | 9.7 | 1. | Kirkbride | 29 | 1. | Dirksen | 71 | 1. | Dirksen | 31 | 1. | Bullimore | 46 | |||||
| 2. | Dirksen | 9.1 | 2. | Wyss | 5.2 | 2. | Cramer | 26 | 2. | Kirkbride | 64 | 2. | Bullimore | 29 | 2. | Dirksen | 8 | |||||
| 3. | Black | 7.6 | 3. | Mescher | 3.9 | 3. | Manley | 20 | 3. | Black | 50 | 3. | Weeks |
22 |
3. |
Wyss |
4 | |||||
|
Black |
4 |
All-Time Series: Northern owns a 54-16 lead in the all-time series between the two schools ... Northern won the first matchup of the season in Ada 72-57 ... The Polar Bears have won eight straight in the series and 24 of the last 25 contests.
ONU head coach Michele Durand: Durand is in her 17th season at ONU with a 294-162 record, a winning percentage of .645 ... She became ONU's all-time winningest head coach on 11/21/17 in a victory over St. Mary's (Ind.).