Women's Basketball: Ohio Northern (11-10 Overall, 5-9 OAC) at Otterbein (13-8 Overall, 9-5 OAC)

Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 7 p.m. - Rike Center, Westerville, Ohio

Wednesday's Game Notes: The Ohio Northern women's basketball program concludes a three-game road stretch Wednesday evening when the Polar Bears travel to OAC foe Otterbein for a critical late-season affair ... Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside the Rike Center in Westerville ... ONU currently owns an 11-10 overall record and a 5-9 mark in the Ohio Athletic Conference ... With four regular season games remaining, Northern is among a three-way tie for seventh place in the league standings with Heidelberg and Wilmington ... Northern rallied back from a 19-point deficit Saturday afternoon, but fell to Marietta 63-59 on the road ... Senior guard Jenna Dirksen tallied 21 points in the victory to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and three steals ... With her weekend efforts, Dirksen is just one point removed from becoming the 16th player in ONU history to reach 1,000 career points ... Meanwhile, sophomore Sydney Ward hauled in six rebounds to lead the team to a 32-30 advantage on the glass ... Through 21 games this season, Dirksen leads the team and sits fifth in the OAC with 14.3 points per game while also leading the team with 24 steals ... Additionally, she tops Ohio Northern and resides third among the conference in free throw percentage (81.7%) ... Junior center Emily Mescher leads Ohio Northern in shooting percentage (48.7%) and rebounding average (6.5), which sit ninth and tenth in the OAC, respectively ... She currently ranks second on the team in scoring with 8.2 points per game, and classmate Abby Weeks sits third at 7.7 ... Senior guard Alyssa Manley leads the team in assists with 48 ... Otterbein enters the midweek contest sporting a 13-8 overall mark and a 9-5 record against the conference loop ... The Cardinals are coming off a 65-50 loss to Mount Union on Saturday ... Senior forward Dani Kissel and senior guard Ali Cartnal lead the offense, averaging 20.0 and 17.0 points per game, respectively ... The tandem also sit first and second on the OAC leaderboards in scoring ... Junior forward Abbie Scholz tops the team with 8.6 rebounds per game, which ranks third in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (5.1 ppg, 48 assists, 19 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (7.7 ppg, 34 assists, 21 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (14.3 ppg, 47 assists, 24 steals)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (5.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (8.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg)

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: The Polar Bears lead the all-time series 52-32 over the Cardinals, including a 21-17 margin on the road ... Otterbein defeated Ohio Northern 61-54 in overtime on January 16 in the season's first meeting between the two programs.

ONU Head Coach Michele Durand: Durand is currently in her 18th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern women's basketball program ... She is the all-time winningest coach in school history with a 309-173 record, a winning percentage of .641.