Women's Basketball: Otterbein (8-7 Overall, 4-4 OAC) at Ohio Northern (10-5 Overall, 4-4 OAC)
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 7 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
Wednesday's Game Notes: The Ohio Northern women's basketball program wraps up a four-game home stand Wednesday night as the Polar Bears welcome in Ohio Athletic Conference foe Otterbein into the ONU Sports Center ... Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. in Ada ... Northern enters the contest riding a three-game win streak and owning a 10-5 overall record with a 4-4 conference mark ... On Saturday afternoon, the Polar Bears defeated Marietta 64-50 at home in their most recent outing ... Senior guard Jenna Dirksen guided the Ohio Northern offense, pouring in 17 points and dishing out four assist in the winning effort ... Junior guard Abby Weeks also posted double-figure scoring with 12 points while adding four assists, two steals, and two blocked shots ... Meanwhile, junior center Emily Mescher hauled in a team-high nine rebounds off the bench ... Defensively, the Polar Bears held the visiting Pioneers to just 33% shooting and caused 18 Marietta turnovers ... Through 15 games this season, Dirksen stands atop the team scoring charts with 13.9 points per game, which ties for fifth-best in the league ... Mescher leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game while senior forward Tori Wyss trails closely behind at 6.4 boards per contest, which rank ninth and 11th in the conference, respectively ... Mescher ranks seventh in the conference with a 51.2% field goal percentage, giving her a 55.2% career clip to top the school record books ... Additionally, sophomore guard Emily Brock stands second in the OAC with a 44.9% three-point field goal shooting clip ... The Cardinals enter Wednesday's contest sporting an 8-7 overall record and a similar 4-4 OAC record ... In their most recent action, Otterbein dropped a nail-biting, 68-65 contest to Mount Union at home ... Senior forward Dani Kissel currently leads the league with 21.3 points per contest while classmate Ali Cartnal sits third in the conference with 16.4 points per game ... Junior forward Abbie Scholz paces the team with 7.9 boards per outing, which also ranks third-best in the OAC.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (4.9 ppg, 41 assists, 15 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (8.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 17 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (13.9 ppg, 38 assists, 25 3FGs)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (4.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
F - #44 Sydney Ward, So. (2.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Dirksen | 13.9 | 1. | Mescher | 6.7 | 1. | Brock | 31 | 1. | Manley | 41 | 1. | Weeks | 17 | ||||
| 2. | Mescher | 9.0 | 2. | Wyss | 6.4 | 2. | Dirksen | 25 | 2. | Dirksen | 38 | 2. | Manley | 15 | ||||
| 3. | Weeks | 8.7 | 3. | Weeks | 4.2 | 3. | Manley | 12 | 3. | Weeks | 25 | 3. | Dirksen | 14 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern currently holds a 52-31 all-time series lead over the Cardinals, including a 31-14 record when playing at home ... Last season, the two programs split the regular season series with ONU winning 66-42 and Otterbein claiming a 64-56 victory ... The two teams also met during the OAC postseason when the Polar Bears won 80-72.
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 308-168 record, a winning percentage of .647 ... She currently stands as the all-time winningest coach in program history.
