No. 15 Women's Basketball tops Otterbein 71-43 for ninth straight victory

By: Andrew Korba

WESTERVILLE--Four players scored in double figures as the No. 15 Ohio Northern women's basketball team defeated Otterbein by a 71-43 score at the Rike Center on Wednesday night.

With the win, the Polar Bears improve to 10-1 and remain a perfect in OAC play at 5-0, while the Cardinals fall to 6-3, 2-2.

Senior Morgan Dumbaugh led Northern with 13 points.

Junior Cenzie Yoder and freshman Brooke Espenschied each scored 12, while senior Joanna Snyder chipped in with 11.

The Polar Bears had a lead for the majority of the first half and found themselves ahead 31-23 with 34 seconds left in the first half.

Snyder would then make a layup, and after the Polar Bears forced a turnover, Espenschied drained a three pointer just before the buzzer to give ONU a 36-23 lead heading into the break.

Northern came out of the locker room strong, scoring the first 10 points of the second half to open up a 46-23 lead.

Snyder and Yoder each scored four points during the stretch, while junior Taylor Hermiller added a basket.

The Polar Bears would continue to expand their lead and used an 8-1 to expand their lead to 55-29 with 10:18 left on a free throw from junior Sara Kocian.

Northern would never let the Cardinals get any closer than 20 points the rest of the evening.

The Polar Bears shot 28-of-62 (45.2 percent) from the field and 5-of-20 (25.0 percent) from behind the arc.

Otterbein struggled from the field, going 13-of-60 (21.7 percent) and 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) in three pointers.

ONU won the rebounding battle by a 44-39 margin and score 21 points off of 15 Cardinal turnovers.

Ohio Northern will be in action again on December 29 when they travel to Adrian (Mich.) for a 3 pm game.