Cold-shooting Women's Basketball wraps up D3hoops.com Classic with tight 57-50 loss to La Verne (Calif.) in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Junior Layla Dials (Willard) led three players in double figures with 12 points, but cold shooting hurt the Ohio Northern women's basketball team in a 57-50 non-conference loss to La Verne (Calif.) in the D3hoops.com Classic on Friday afternoon at the South Point Arena.

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The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (6-4 overall), La Verne (Calif.) (6-2 overall)
• Venue: South Point Arena - Las Vegas, Nev.

The Game

• The Polar Bears also got 11 points from senior Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) and junior Abi Akamine (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna).
• Dials added eight rebounds and freshman Noelle Ruane (St. Marys) had a team-best nine caroms for ONU.
• Northern led 30-28 at halftime and was up 41-40 after three quarters, but made only 4-of-21 field goal attempts for 19.0 percent in the final quarter.
• The Leopards opened the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to grab a 53-43 lead with 4:20 left in the game.
• The Polar Bear defense would hold UL without a field goal for the rest of the contest as the Orange and Black would battle back into the game.
• A 7-0 run on a basket by Dials, a 3-point play by Allen and a basket by Akamine pulled ONU within 53-50 with 33 seconds left .
• But La Verne would go 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 19 seconds to ice the game.
• The Leopards were led by Chiara Brown and Naomi Jackson with 12 points each.
• Ohio Northern made 18-of-61 field goals for 29.5% and was 3-of-19 from beyond the arc for 15.8%, while La Verne was 19-of-50 from the floor for 38.0% and made 11-of-25 3-pointers for 44.0%.
• ONU made 11-of-19 free throws for 57.9%, and UL was 8-of-12 from the line for 67.7%.
• The Polar Bears out-rebounded the Leopards by a 43-36 margin.

Notables

• This marks Ohio Northern's third appearance in the 13-year history of the D3hoops.com Classic.
• The Polar Bears are now 4-2 all-time in the Classic after defeating No. 10-ranked Trinity (Tex.) 53-46 on Thursday.
• In 2013, ONU defeated No. 8-Wisconsin-Whitewater 68-67 and Baruch (N.Y.) 62-48.
• At the 2018 Classic, Northern defeated Carthage (Wis.) 65-57 before falling to Willamette (Ore.) 43-41.
• This was the first-ever meeting in women's basketball between Ohio Northern and La Verne.
• Fifth-year senior All-American Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny)  is ONU's all-time leader in career steals with 244 and assists with 328.
• Serbin ranks 15th on ONU's all-time career scoring list with 1,038 points. She ranks fifth all-time with 150 made 3-pointers in her career, is 13th all-time in made free throws with 188 and is 16th all-time in rebounds with 498.
• Serbin is nine made field goals away from breaking into the top 20 of the program's all-time list in that category.
• She is also just two rebounds shy of becoming just the second ONU women's basketball player to score 1,000 points, grab 500 rebounds and dish out 300 assists.
• Fourth-year head coach Mark Huelsman is now 55-25 at Ohio Northern.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, Jan. 3, when they travel to Otterbein for a 7 p.m. contest.