Women’s Basketball: #16 Ohio Northern (23-4 Overall) hosts NCAA III Tournament First and Second Rounds

Friday-Saturday, March 3-4, 2023 - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio

| Ohio Northern Tournament site |

Weekend Preview: Ohio Northern received an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament by virtue of winning the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship … This marks the Polar Bears' 10th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2017 … ONU won the OAC Tournament title for the fifth time in program history and was the OAC Regular Season champion for the eighth time in program history … Northern is ranked No. 16 nationally in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and No. 13 in the WBCA Top 25 Poll this week … Northern was selected to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, which is scheduled for Friday and Saturday … Friday's first-round games begin with Wisconsin-Oshkosh facing Washington & Lee (Va.) at 5:30 p.m. and is followed by ONU facing No. 25 Berea (Ky.) at 8 p.m. … The winners of those games will face off in Saturday's second-round game at 7:30 p.m. … ONU is coming off Saturday's 60-45 win over Marietta in the OAC Tournament championship game … Sophomore Brooke Allen led ONU with 20 points in the game, and senior Brynn Serbin (19 points, 10 rebounds) and junior Kristen Luersman (12 points, 14 rebounds) both tallied a double-double … Serbin was named OAC Tournament MVP, and Allen was selected to the All-Tournament Team … On Thursday, Serbin was named the OAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year as a First Team All-OAC selection … Luersman joined Serbin on the All-OAC First Team, and Allen was a Second Team selection … ONU head coach Mark Huelsman was named the OAC Coach of the Year … Through 27 games, Serbin (14.5 points per game), Allen (11.5) and Luersman (11.1) lead ONU in scoring … Serbin ranks second in the OAC in scoring average, Allen is ninth, and Luersman is 10th … Luersman ranks second in the OAC in rebounding average with 8.8 per game and has nine double-doubles on the season … Serbin has an OAC-high 120 assists and 76 steals, both of which are program records for a single season … Serbin is the program's all-time leader in career steals with 218, and she ranks third all-time in career assists (281) and fifth all-time in 3-pointers made (124) … Luersman has 238 rebounds this season, which ranks fourth all-time at ONU for a single season … Serbin has made a team-best 51 3-pointers this season, which ranks second in the OAC, and is shooting 34.2% from beyond the arc, which ranks ninth in the OAC … Berea (26-2 overall) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament over Piedmont (Ga.) 71-63 for its first conference tournament title in program history … The Mountaineers' two losses this season came at No. 2 Transylvania (Ky.) on Dec. 30 and at LaGrange (Ga.) on Feb. 10, and they went 15-1 in conference play … Berea is led in scoring by junior Aaliyah Hampton (14.5 points per game), freshman LynKaylah James (11.6) and sophomore Drea Satori (10.5) … James leads the team in rebounding with 8.1 per game and blocks with 43 … Satori has a team-best 77 assists, and Hampton has a team-high 56 steals … Sophomore Jayden Merriweather has made a team-high 53 3-pointers and is shooting 35.1% from beyond the arc … Wisconsin-Oshkosh (19-8 overall) earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after falling 65-57 to No. 17 Wisconsin-Whitewater in the semifinals of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament … The Titans are led in scoring by junior Kayce Vaile (10.6 points per game) and seniors Ava Douglas (9.3) and Jenna Jorgensen (9.2) … Vaile leads the team in rebounding with 8.1 per game and blocks with 25 … Douglas has a team-best 57 assists, and Jorgensen and Vaile lead the team with 24 steals each … Jorgensen has made a team-high 42 3-pointers on 30% shooting from beyond the arc … Washington & Lee (22-6 overall) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament with a 73-57 victory over Shenandoah (Va.) … The Generals are making their second straight and third overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament … W&L is led in scoring by Mary Schleusner (14.1 points per game), Hanna Malik (12.7) and Elka Prechel (9.4) … Schleusner is averaging a team-high 11.5 rebounds per game to go with 7.4 from Kathryn Vandiver … Grace O'Connor leads the team with 103 assists, and Schleusner has a team-best 34 steals and 84 blocks … Prechel has made a team-high 79 3-pointers on 36.4% shooting from beyond the arc.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Berea (Ky.) by a 1-0 margin … The teams' lone prior meeting was a 99-98 ONU victory on a neutral court during the 205-06 season … ONU is 1-0 all-time against Wisconsin-Oshkosh with the prior meeting being 62-56 ONU victory on a neutral court in the Wisconsin Lutheran Tournament in November 2019 … ONU and Washington & Lee (Va.) have never met.

Head Coach Mark Huelsman: Huelsman is in his third season at ONU and has an overall record of 47-20, a winning percentage of .701.