Women's Basketball: John Carroll (16-6 Overall, 12-3 OAC) at Ohio Northern (11-11 Overall, 5-10 OAC)
Saturday, February 9, 2019, 3 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
Saturday's Game Notes: The Ohio Northern women's basketball program returns home to the ONU Sports Center Saturday following a three-game road spell to take on league-leader John Carroll ... Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. inside the ONU Sports Center ... The Polar Bears enter the weekend owning an 11-11 overall record and a 5-10 mark in the OAC ... With three games remaining in the regular season, ONU sits tied for eighth in the league standings with Heidelberg ... On Wednesday evening, Ohio Northern dropped a 61-39 decision to Otterbein inside the Rike Center in Westerville ... During the contest, senior guard Jenna Dirksen became just the 16th player in Ohio Northern women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points ... She would finish the game with a team-high 10 points, making her 15th on the all-time scoring list with 1,009 career points ... Sophomore guard Emily Brock added six points on two three-pointers to help aid the Polar Bear attack ... Sophomore Sydney Ward hauled in a team-high six rebounds, leading to a 32-30 advantage on the glass for ONU ... Through 22 games this season, Dirksen leads the team and sits fifth in the OAC with 14.1 points per game ... She also leads the team with 25 steals ... Classmate Alyssa Manley tops ONU with 49 assists this season ... Junior center Emily Mescher leads the team and is tied for 10th in the conference with 6.4 boards per outing ... Additionally, Brock tops the Polar Bears and is fifth in the OAC with a 42.4% three-point field goal mark ... John Carroll enters Saturday's matchup sporting a 16-6 overall record and a 12-3 mark in the OAC ... The Blue Streaks are currently first in the league standings, sitting two games ahead of Baldwin Wallace ... Sophomore Nicole Heffington leads the JCU offense with 16.0 points per game, which ranks third in the league ... As a team, John Carroll averages a conference-best 70.6 points per contest ... Senior Shmoo Pryor enters the weekend affair needing seven points to reach the 1,000 career point mark.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (5.1 ppg, 49 assists, 19 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (7.3 ppg, 35 assists, 21 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (14.1 ppg, 47 assists, 25 steals)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (5.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (8.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Dirksen | 14.1 | 1. | Mescher | 6.4 | 1. | Brock | 42 | 1. | Manley | 49 | 1. | Dirksen | 25 | ||||
| 2. | Mescher | 8.0 | 2. | Wyss | 5.9 | 2. | Dirksen | 38 | 2. | Dirksen | 47 | 2. | Weeks | 21 | ||||
| 3. | Weeks | 7.3 | 3. | Dirksen | 3.9 | 3. | Manley | 17 | 3. | Weeks | 35 | 3. | Manley | 19 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern currently leads the all-time series over the Blue Streaks by a 40-25 margin ... The Polar Bears are 20-10 when facing JCU at home ... John Carroll has won the last two meetings, including a 76-50 victory on December 15 in the season's first matchup.
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 309-174 record, a winning percentage of .640.
