Women's Basketball falls in OAC Tournament championship game 77-60 at No. 6 Mount Union

By: Monique Bowman

ALLIANCE--The Ohio Northern women's basketball team fell 77-60 in the OAC Tournament championship game Saturday afternoon against No. 6 Mount Union at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.

The tournament's second-seeded Polar Bears close out the season 21-6 overall, while the Purple Raiders improve to 26-1 overall. Mount Union also wins its second consecutive OAC Tournament title and receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Junior Morgan Dumbaugh led Ohio Northern with 11 points, followed by eight points each from senior Kara Dysert, junior Marissa Clark and sophomore Cenzie Yoder. Dysert was also named 2012 OAC All-Tournament team.

Northern found itself down 6-3 early but came out of a timeout to tie the game at 6-all on a Taylor Hermiller 3-pointer. Then ONU took its only lead of the game after the front side of a pair of Dysert free-throws.

The Purple Raiders didn't stay down for long, closing out the first half with an 18-point lead (40-24). UMU shot 57.1 percent from the field, including 63.6 percent from long range in the first half alone.

Ohio Northern couldn't get much going in the second half and was unable to close within double digits. The Polar Bears did get valuable minutes from Steph Hicks in her final game as she posted six points and pulled down one rebound in 13 second-half minutes.

ONU did shoot better in the second half at 43.3 percent (41.1 percent for the game) but Mount Union finished the game on 58.5 percent shooting including 47.4 percent from 3-point range.

For Mount Union, the tournament MVP Kori Wiedt led with 16 points, followed by Amanda Rose and Rosa LaMattina with 14 points apiece.

2012 OAC All-Tournament Team

Kara Dysert- Ohio Northern
Kori Wiedt- Mount Union (MVP)
Rosa LaMattina- Mount Union
Amanda Rose- Mount Union
Hilary Kuhns- Capital
Shea McCoy- Otterbein