Women's Basketball: Muskingum (1-11 Overall, 0-5 OAC) at Ohio Northern (7-5 Overall, 1-4 OAC)

Saturday, January 5, 2019, 3 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio

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Saturday's Game Notes: The Ohio Northern women's basketball program opens the 2019 calendar year Saturday afternoon as the Polar Bears host OAC foe Muskingum inside the ONU Sports Center ... Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. in Ada ... The Orange and Black will enter the contest sporting a 7-5 overall mark and a 1-4 record against the conference loop ... Northern recently battled to a 1-1 record at the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada over the holiday break, besting Carthage (Wisc.) 65-57 and falling to Willamette (Ore.) 43-41 ... Junior guard Abby Weeks led the Polar Bears with 13.0 points per contest over the two-game span and dished out a team-high four assists ... Meanwhile, sophomore guard Emily Brock and senior guard Alyssa Manley chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively, in the opening contest, fueling a late 13-0 run to defeat Carthage ... Through 12 games this season, senior guard Jenna Dirksen leads Ohio Northern with 14.1 points per game, which ranks sixth on the OAC leaderboards ... Junior center Emily Mescher tops the program with 6.8 rebounds per game while senior Tori Wyss trails closely with 6.4 boards per outing ... Mescher ranks eighth in the conference with a 52% field goal percentage, giving her a 55.8% career clip to top the school record books ... Brock also stands among the league's best, standing seventh in three-point field goal percentage with a 42.6% conversion rate ... Muskingum enters their first contest in 2019 sporting a 1-11 overall record and a 0-5 mark in the Ohio Athletic Conference ... The Muskies dropped their last contest 100-61 at OAC foe Marietta on Saturday, December 29 ... Junior forward Devyn Bonner and sophomore guard Emiy Yeager are each averaging 12.9 points per game to lead the Muskingum offense ... The former also tops the team with 6.3 rebounds per outing while the latter paces the team with 2.2 assists per contest.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (4.8 ppg, 30 assists, 13 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (8.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 14 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (14.1 ppg, 27 assists, 20 3FGs)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (4.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (9.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 52.0% FG)

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: The Polar Bears currently own a 44-39 all-time series advantage over the Muskies, which includes a 24-13 record when defending home court ... ONU has won the last 15 matchups between the two programs ... Northern swept last season's series, defeating Muskingum 70-36 inside the ONU Sports Center while winning 73-66 on the road.

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 305-168 record, a winning percentage of .645 ... She currently stands as the all-time winningest coach in program history.