Women's Basketball: Ohio Northern (11-8 Overall, 5-7 OAC) at Baldwin Wallace (14-5 Overall, 8-4 OAC)

Thursday, January 31, 2019, 7 p.m. - Ursprung Gymnasium, Berea, Ohio

Thursday's Game Notes: The Ohio Northern women's basketball team opens a three-game road stretch Thursday evening when the Polar Bears travel to OAC foe Baldwin Wallace ... Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside Ursprung Gymnasium in Berea ... Thursday's game was originally scheduled for Wednesday, January 30, but was postponed due to dangerously cold temperatures in the area ... ONU enters the contest sporting an 11-8 overall mark and a 5-7 Ohio Athletic Conference record ... With three weeks remaining in the regular season, Northern stands tied for seventh in the conference standings with Wilmington ... Ohio Northern is coming off a nail-biting, 59-57 loss to Mount Union on Saturday ... Senior guard Jenna Dirksen registered a team-high 12 points, including eight in the final period, on four-for-eight shooting ... Junior center Emily Mescher and sophomore guard Emily Brock each added nine points while the former also hauled in six rebounds ... Senior forward Tori Wyss led ONU with eight rebounds Saturday afternoon ... Through 19 games this season, Dirksen tops the team and ranks fifth in the OAC with 14.3 points per game ... Additionally, she is tied for the team lead in steals (21) and free throw percentage (84.7%), which stands third in the conference ... Mescher leads Ohio Northern with a 50.3% shooting clip and a 6.7 rebounding average, which rank eighth and ninth in the league, respectively ... She also ranks second on the team in scoring with 8.9 points per outing, while classmate Abby Weeks sits third with an 8.5 average ... Senior guard Alyssa Manley ranks first on the team with 45 assists ... Meanwhile, Brock has connected on a team-high 35 three-point field goals at a 42.7% conversion rate, which ranks fifth in the OAC ... Baldwin Wallace owns a 14-5 overall record and an 8-4 OAC mark ... The Yellow Jackets are currently tied for second in the league standings with Otterbein ... In their last outing, BW defeated Muskingum 80-66 on the road Saturday ... Freshman forward Lilly Edwards and senior guard Hannah Fecht are averaging 13.8 and 11.8 points per game, respectively, to lead the Baldwin Wallace offense ... Edwards also tops the team with 6.8 rebounds per contest ... BW's offense currently ranks second in the OAC, averaging 70.2 points per game.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (5.1 ppg, 45 assists, 18 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (8.5 ppg, 32 assists, 21 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (14.3 ppg, 33 3FGs, 21 steals)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (5.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (8.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 50.3% FG)

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: The Polar Bears trail Baldwin Wallace 39-35 in the all-time series ... However, Ohio Northern has won the past five matchups, dating back to the 2017 campaign ... ONU defeated the Yellow Jackets 53-46 on January 9 in their first meeting this season.

ONU Head Coach Michele Durand: Durand is currently in her 18th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern women's basketball program and sports a 309-171 record, a winning percentage of .644 ... She is the all-time winningest coach in program history.