Women’s Basketball defeats #16 Marietta 58-54
By Wes Mayberry
ADA — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team defeated No. 16 Marietta 58-54 on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.
The win improves the Polar Bears to 11-4 overall and 5-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference while dropping the Pioneers to 15-2, 8-2.
"This was a good conference win for us," ONU head coach Mark Huelsman said. "We played well defensively and got offensive contributions from lots of different players, and our seniors stepped up and made big plays at key times."
Junior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) led the way for Northern with 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Sophomore Kasey Knippen (Ottoville) added 11 points off the bench, and seniors Alissa Stahler (Lima/Shawnee) and Jaidyn Hale (Lima/Bath) chipped in eight points apiece.
Sophomore Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings) and senior Lexi Jacobs (Wapakoneta) matched Serbin's team-high five rebounds.
Devin Hefner led Marietta with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Erin Hahn added nine points and 10 rebounds.
An and-1 from Luersman gave ONU its largest lead of the game at 13 points, 37-24, with 8:09 left in the third quarter.
Marietta led 51-50 with 1:38 remaining, but a 3-pointer from Hale with 1:07 left gave the Polar Bears a lead they would not relinquish.
"That's what she does," Huelsman said of Hale's critical 3-pointer. "She's made big shots her entire career here, and we'll need her to continue to play well for us to have success the rest of the season."
Serbin was 3-for-4 from the free-throw line over the final 42 seconds, putting the Polar Bears up 58-51 before MC's Olivia Gribble made a 3-pointer with five seconds left for the final margin.
"Brynn was key for us today, and she made some big free throws down the stretch to help us secure the win," Huelsman said.
With the help of a pair of 3-pointers from Knippen, ONU outscored Marietta 17-10 in the second quarter to take a 29-22 halftime lead after the teams were tied at 12-all at the end of the first period.
Northern led 40-38 at the end of the third quarter.
Ohio Northern made 19-of-59 field goals for 32.2% and was 5-of-22 from 3-point range for 22.7%, while the Pioneers made 18-of-64 field goals for 28.1% and were 5-of-26 from beyond the arc for 19.2%.
The Polar Bears were 15-of-17 from the foul line for 88.2% while MC was 13-of-14 for 92.9%.
MC out-rebounded ONU by a 45-39 margin.
Northern returns to the court on Wednesday at 7 p.m. hosting Ohio Athletic Conference foe Wilmington.
