Senior Brooke Espenschied leads No. 15-ranked Women's Basketball past John Carroll 68-45 on Alumni Day

By Ashley Birchmeier

ADA — Senior Brooke Espenschied leads the No. 15-ranked Women's Basketball team past John Carroll 68-45 Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 16-3 overall, 11-1 Ohio Athletic Conference, while John Carroll falls to 11-8, 6-6.

Espenschied led all scores in the game, recording a season-high 14 points. The senior also pulled down four rebounds and dished out four assists for the Polar Bears.

Senior Carly Thomas added 11 points for ONU, while senior Karissa Steffas chipped in 10 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

The Polar Bears dominated much of the first quarter as a jumper from freshman Jenna Dirksen would spark an ONU 18-0 run to give Northern the 20-8 advantage.

John Carroll would connect on layup as time expired in the first quarter to cut the ONU lead to 20-10.

With 7:55 to play before the intermission, Espenschied would connect from three sparking another Polar Bear 9-0 run en route to the 29-15 advantage.

Northern would go on to outscore the Blue Streaks in the quarter 17-10 to claim the 37-20 halftime lead.

Steffas would lead the Polar Bear offense in the third quarter as the senior shot a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line to put Northern on top 48-30.

With 2:33 remaining in the contest, Espenschied and junior Britt Luack would connect for a layup giving ONU its largest lead of the contest 66-42.

Sophomore Lindsay Black would sink a jumper with under a minute to play en route to the victory.

John Carroll was led in the contest by Katlyn Spahar with a team-high 11 points.

Northern forced 16 turnovers in the contest, while out rebounding the Blue Streaks 46-32.

The Polar Bears return to action Wednesday as they travel to Wilmington, tip off set for 7:30 pm.