Women's Basketball: Ohio Northern (6-4 Overall) at D3hoops.com Classic - v Carthage (Wis.) (6-4 Overall); v Willamette (Ore.) (3-6 Overall)
Thursday-Friday, December 27-28, 2018, 8 pm - South Point Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
Tournament Notes: Ohio Northern will travel west of the Mississippi River for the first time since 2013 when they compete in the D3hoops.com Classic ... The Polar Bears will face Carthage (Wis.) at 2 pm (5 pm EST) on Thursday and Willamette (Ore.) at 2 pm (5 pm EST) on Friday ... This will be ONU's second appearance in the D3hoops.com Classic ... ONU topped Baruch (N.Y.) 62-48 and Wisconsin-Whitewater 68-67 in 2013 ... It will be ONU's third time competing in a tournament in Las Vegas, as the Polar Bears topped Bridgewater (Va.) 70-48 and Central (Iowa) 58-48 at the 2003 D3 Desert Shootout at UNLV ... ONU is coming off an 82-77 overtime loss at Heidelberg on Dec. 19 ... Northern got a team-high 20 points from senior Jenna Dirksen while junior Emily Mescher registered 18 points off the bench ... Senior Tori Wyss made a 3-pointer as time expired to send the game into overtime ... Through 10 games this season, Dirksen leads the Polar Bears in scoring at 15.2 points per contest, which ranks third in the OAC ... Mescher is second on the team in scoring at 9.6 ppg ... She is also ONU's all-time career leader with a 56.6 field goal shooting percentage (163-of-288) ... Senior Alyssa Manley leads the team in assists with 27 and steals with 11 this year ... Carthage is coming off an 87-76 win at Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Dec. 20 ... Autumn Kalis led five Lady Red players in double figures in scoring with 20 points ... It was her third 20-point game of the season ... Kalis leads the team in scoring at 13.4 ppg ... Bailey Gilbert is second on the team in scoring at 12.8 ppg, Madie Kaelber is third at 12.7 ppg and Sammie Woodward is fourth at 11.9 ppg ... Willammette is looking to snap a 3-game losing streak and has not played a regular season game since a 59-48 loss at Corban (Ore.) on Dec. 6 ... The Bearcats have dropped exhibition games to NCAA Division I Portland 82-27 on Dec. 9 and to #8-ranked (NAIA) Carroll (Mont.) (58-33) on Dec. 17 ... Senior Britanny Kochenderfer leads WU in scoring, averaging 13.4 ppg.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (4.1 ppg, 27 assists, 11 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (7.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 8 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (15.2 ppg, 24 assists, 18 3FGs)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (4.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (9.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 54.1% FG)
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Dirksen | 15.2 | 1. | Mescher | 6.8 | 1. | Brock | 19 | 1. | Manley | 27 | 1. | Manley | 11 | ||||
| 2. | Mescher | 9.6 | 2. | Wyss | 6.6 | 2. | Dirksen | 18 | 2. | Dirksen | 24 | 2. | Weeks | 8 | ||||
| 3. | Weeks | 7.9 | 3. | Weeks | 4.4 | 3. | Yankle | 9 | 3. | Jacobs | 17 | 3. | Dirksen | 7 | ||||
| Wyss | 7 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Carthage 1-0, defeating the Lady Reds 64-56 at the Manchester (Ind.) Tip-Off Tournament in November of 2013 ... This will be the first meeting between ONU and Willammette.
ONU Head Coach Michele Durand: Durand is now in her 18th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern women's basketball program and currently sports a 304-167 record, a winning percentage of .645 ... She currently stands as the all-time winningest coach in program history.
