Women’s Basketball: #11 Ohio Northern (21-3 Overall, 15-2 OAC) at Muskingum (9-15 Overall, 6-11 OAC)

Saturday, February 18, 2023, 4 p.m. - Steele Center, New Concord, Ohio

Saturday's Preview: The Polar Bears close out their 2022-23 regular-season schedule on Saturday at Ohio Athletic Conference foe Muskingum in the back half of a men's-women's doubleheader … Northern has clinched the OAC Regular Season championship and No. 1 seed for next week's OAC Tournament … This marks ONU's first regular-season conference title since the 2017-18 season and eighth overall and is the 28th straight season that Northern has played in the OAC Tournament … The Polar Bears have also secured the 11th 20-win season in program history … Northern is ranked No. 11 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and No. 13 in the WBCA Top 25 Poll this week …In the teams' first meeting this season, on Jan. 14, ONU got a 65-47 home win over Muskingum … Senior Brynn Serbin led ONU with 14 points in the game to go with 12 from sophomore Layla Dials and 10 from senior Kasey Knippen … ONU is coming off Wednesday's 63-47 win at Heidelberg … Serbin led ONU with 20 points to go with six rebounds and a career-high eight steals … Serbin is now the program's all-time leader in career steals with 213, surpassing the previous record of 209 set by Katie Mengos ('10-'13) … Junior Kristen Luersman tallied her seventh double-double of the season on Wednesday, posting 16 points and tying her career-high with 15 rebounds … Through 24 games, Serbin (14.2 points per game), Luersman (11.2) and sophomore Brooke Allen (11.0) lead ONU in scoring … Serbin ranks second in the OAC in scoring average, Luersman is eighth, and Allen is 11th … Luersman ranks second in the OAC in rebounding average with 8.5 per game and is tied for ninth in the conference with 16 blocks … Serbin has an OAC-high 108 assists and 71 steals … Serbin's 108 assists rank second-best all-time at ONU for a single season and are four shy of the all-time single-season record of 112 set by Britt Lauck in 2017 … Serbin's 71 steals rank third-best all-time at ONU for a single season and are four shy of the all-time single-season record of 75 set by Mengos in 2013 … Serbin has 269 career assists, which ranks third all-time at ONU … Serbin ranks sixth all-time at ONU in 3-pointers made (116) … Luersman has 203 rebounds this season and needs 26 more to move into the top five all-time at ONU for a single season … Serbin has made a team-best 43 3-pointers, which ranks fourth in the OAC, and is shooting 35% from beyond the arc, which ranks eighth in the OAC … Northern leads the OAC in field goal percentage (42.1%), points per game allowed (53.0) and field goal percentage defense (33%) and is second in points per game (65.2) … Muskingum is in eighth place in the OAC standings, trailing sixth-place Capital and Wilmington by one game … The Muskies are coming off Wednesday's 71-56 home loss to Mount Union … Freshman Tori Jones and junior Taylor DeMassimo led MU in the game with 10 points each … In MU's loss to ONU earlier this season, freshmen Claudia Harrington and Anna Lippiatt led the Muskies with 14 and 13 points, respectively … Through 24 games, Harrington leads MU in scoring with 11.7 points per game followed by sophomore Caitlyn DeMassimo (11.2) and Taylor DeMassimo (9.1) … Harrington is tied for fifth in the OAC in scoring average, and Caitlyn DeMassimo is tied for eighth … Caitlyn DeMassimo ranks fifth in the OAC with 6.7 rebounds per game … Sophomore Halle Morehead is tied for third in the OAC with 71 assists … Freshman Lizzy Allen ranks ninth in the OAC with 38 steals … Taylor DeMassimo has made a team-high 34 3-pointers and is shooting 31.2% from beyond the arc … Harrington ranks eighth in the OAC with 19 blocks.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Muskingum by a 50-42 margin, including a 20-25 mark in New Concord … ONU has won three straight meetings and 20 of the past 21 … MU's only win in that stretch was a 58-55 home victory in January 2020 … In the teams' meeting earlier this season, ONU came away with a 65-47 win in Ada on Jan. 14.

Head Coach Mark Huelsman: Huelsman is in his third season at ONU and has an overall record of 45-19, a winning percentage of .703.