Women's Basketball: Ohio Northern (6-3 Overall, 1-3 OAC) at Heidelberg (4-5 Overall, 1-3 OAC)
Wednesday, December 19, 2018, 7 pm - Sieberling Gymnasium, Tiffin, Ohio
Wednesday's Preview: The Ohio Northern women's basketball program continues its current four-game road stretch this Wednesday evening, December 19 when the Polar Bears travel to nearby Tiffin, Ohio for an Ohio Athletic Conference date with the Heidelberg Student Princes ... Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside Sieberling Gymnasium ... Northern enters the midweek matchup owning a 6-3 overall record and a 1-3 mark in the OAC ... The Polar Bears fell to John Carroll 76-50 Saturday afternoon in their most recent outing ... Senior guard Jenna Dirksen led Ohio Northern with nine points in the contest ... Senior forward Tori Wyss and freshman guard Lexi Jacobs were next in line, chipping in eight and seven points, respectively ... Meanwhile, junior center Emily Mescher led ONU with six rebounds in the contest while senior guard Alyssa Manley recorded a team-high three assists ... Through nine games this season, Dirksen leads the Polar Bears with 14.7 points per contest, which also ranks third among the league leaderboards ... Mescher leads the team in field goal percentage with a 52.8% shooting clip and in rebounds with 7.1 boards per contest, which rank fifth and seventh in the conference, respectively ... Additionally, she currently resides atop the school record books with a 56.4% field goal percentage ... Junior guard Jaclyn Yankle also stands among the league leaders, sitting second in three-point field goal percentage with a 50% conversion rate ... Manley leads the team in assists with 25 and steals with nine in the 2018-19 campaign ... The Student Princes enter Wednesday night's affair sporting a 4-5 overall record and a 1-3 Ohio Athletic Conference mark ... Heidelberg is coming off an 83-64 loss to OAC foe Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio on Saturday ... Junior forward Maddy Crawford and senior guard Alyssa Riley pace the Student Prince offense with 13.7 and 13.3 points per game, respectively ... Meanwhile, Crawford also stands atop the Ohio Athletic Conference leaderboards averaging 10.4 rebounds per contest and 1.6 blocks per outing this season.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (4.0 ppg, 25 assists, 9 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (8.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 8 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (14.7 ppg, 23 assists, 16 3FGs)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (4.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (8.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 52.8% FG)
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Dirksen | 14.7 | 1. | Mescher | 7.1 | 1. | Brock | 17 | 1. | Manley | 25 | 1. | Manley | 9 | ||||
| 2. | Mescher | 8.7 | 2. | Wyss | 6.6 | 2. | Dirksen | 16 | 2. | Dirksen | 23 | 2. | Weeks | 8 | ||||
| 3. | Weeks | 8.1 | 3. | Weeks | 4.0 | 3. | Yankle | 9 | 3. | Jacobs | 17 | 3. | Dirksen | 7 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern currently leads the all-time series 48-25 over the Student Princes, which includes a 21-14 mark when playing on the road ... The Polar Bears swept last season's meetings, winning 67-44 on the road and 90-44 inside the ONU Sports Center ... ONU has won the last 19 consecutive meetings dating back to the 2009 regular season.
ONU Head Coach Michele Durand: Durand is now in her 18th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern women's basketball program and currently sports a 304-166 record, a winning percentage of .647 ... She currently stands as the all-time winningest coach in program history after surpassing former Hall of Fame coach Gayle Lauth last season.