Season Review: Women's Basketball claims fourth straight OAC Regular Season Crown, posts ninth consecutive winning season in 2017-18

By Caleb Scott

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team posted its ninth consecutive winning season and claimed the Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season crown in 2017-18 for the fourth consecutive season on its way to another successful campaign in 2017-18 under the guidance of 17th-year head coach Michele Durand.

After being ranked No. 7 in the preseason D3Hoops.com poll, the Polar Bears climbed as high as No. 10 in the D3Hoops.com regular season rankings.

Northern finished with an impressive 23-5 record, and claimed the OAC Regular Season title with a 15-3 mark in conference play.

ONU posted its seventh straight season with at least 20 wins, the longest such streak in school history.

Three athletes earned All-OAC recognition for their efforts this season, as seniors Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) and Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham) and junior Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carroll) were all named All-OAC.

Bullimore allowed Northern to earn the OAC Player of the Year honor for the second straight season as she earned the honor for the 2017-18 season and was named First Team All-OAC.

The senior re-wrote the Ohio Northern record book in 2017-18 on her way to being a First Team All-OAC member for the third time in her career.

She finished her career as Ohio Northern's all-time leading scorer (1,484 points), all-time leading rebounder (891 rebounds) and ranks second all-time at ONU with 174 career blocked shots.

In the final game of her career in the OAC Tournament Championship game, Bullimore broke the single-season scoring record at ONU, finishing the season with 492 points.

Bullimore also has the most rebounds in a single season (274 in 2017-18) at ONU, ranks second all-time in field goal percentage (.542), has the third best career scoring average in school history (13.3 ppg), ranks fourth all-time at ONU in free throws made (279), and has the fifth best career rebounding average in school history (8.0 rpg).

The senior led the OAC this season with 17.6 points per contest and 52 blocks and ranked second in the OAC with 9.8 rebounds per contest and shooting .553 from the field.

Bullimore also earned Academic All-OAC honors for the first time in her career, and was named First Team Academic All-District by CoSIDA.

Amy was also named Second Team All-Great Lakes Region by D3Hoops.com and was named an All-American for the second consecutive season, being named Honorable Mention All-American by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and garnering Fourth Team All-America honors in the D3Hoops.com voting.

Dirksen earned her second career All-Conference nod after being named Second Team All-OAC in 2017-18.

The junior was second on the team, averaging 8.9 points per contest and logged the most minutes on the team.

Dirksen also led the team and was sixth in the OAC with 82 assists. She ranks second all-time at Ohio Northern, shooting .841 from the free throw line.

Black earned her first career All-OAC honor after being named Honorable Mention All-OAC in 2017-18.

The senior was third on the team averaging 7.7 points per contest and was also third on the team with 63 assists after starting all 28 games for ONU.

Bullimore was joined by five teammates to be named Academic All-OAC in 2017-18 as Bullimore, seniors Cheyenne Raker (Columbus/Westerville South) and Courtney Cramer (Arcadia), and sophomores Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local), Jaclyn Yankle (Youngstown/Cardinal Mooney) and Kaitlyn Hurd (Buchtel/Nelsonville-York) all earned the honor for the Polar Bears.

The Polar Bears opened the season at the North Park Tip-Off Tournament in Chicago, Ill. and dropped a heartbreaking 67-66 decision to area-rival Bluffton on a buzzer-beating shot.

From there, Northern took aim at the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season crown, ripping off 17-game winning streak, including a perfect 6-0 December and an 8-1 record in January.

ONU's first conference loss in two years came at the hands of Capital as Northern dropped its first league game of the season. From there, ONU answered with three straight victories to stay atop the OAC standings.

After falling in back-to-back games to John Carroll and Otterbein, Northern finished the regular season with a thrilling double overtime victory at Marietta to claim the OAC Regular Season championship.

The Polar Bears would then defeat Wilmington and Otterbein in the opening two rounds of the OAC Tournament before falling to Marietta in the OAC Tournament Championship game.

Northern's season would end in the tournament championship game as it was left out of the 2018 NCAA Div. III Tournament.

"I thought we had another outstanding season," said head coach Michele Durand. "While we were all disappointed we did not get to move on to the NCAA Tournament, it was still successful and fun. Our seniors were incredible leaders and I am really proud of the fact that we have won 4 straight OAC regular season championships. Even though we were not selected I am 100% sure that we are in the top 64 teams. I am just really proud of what this team has accomplished both on and off the court."