No. 25 Women's Basketball uses late 24-3 run to defeat Bethany (W.Va.) 76-55 in final game of Bluffton Holiday Tournament

By Tim Glon

BLUFFTON — The No. 25-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team went on a 24-3 run over a 10-minute span in the third and fourth quarters and posted a 76-55 victory over Bethany (W.Va.) on the final day of the Bluffton McDonald's Holiday Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Sommer Center.

The Polar Bears extend their winning streak to seven games and improve to 10-1 overall, while the Bison fall to 2-10.

Sophomore Abi Akamine (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna) led five ONU players in double figures in scoring with a career-high 13 points.

Sophomore Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) scored 12 points, sophomore Layla Dials (Willard) scored 11 points, junior Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings) had her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds and senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) added 10 points for ONU.

Alyssa Serensky led Bethany with a game-high 18 points.

Trailing 45-43 with 4:10 left in the third period, ONU ended the quarter on a 10-3 lead to head into the final stanza on top 53-48.

A 3-point play by Akamine just 12 seconds into the fourth extended the lead to 56-48 and a 3-pointer by senior Kasey Knippen (Ottoville) at the 9:01 mark gave ONU a 59-48 advantage.

Knippen drilled another three with 7:09 to go to give ONU a 62-48 lead.

Allen got a basket inside with 5:17 remaining to make it 64-48.

Serbin nailed a 3-pointer with 4:32 left to extend the lead to 67-48 and finish the 24-3 run.

"I was happy that we were able to play hard for the entire 40 minutes after a short turnaround from last night's game," ONU head coach Mark Huelsman said. "Give Bethany credit - they knocked down open shots. Some of that was them and some was us. We were able to score with them until we wore them down a bit later in the game. We got contributions from many players and all of our players had a positive impact on the game."

Ohio Northern scored the first eight points of the game, only to see BC tie the contest at 12-all.

The Polar Bears grew the lead to 23-14 early in the second quarter, but again the Bison rallied to tie the game, evening it at 27-27.

A three-pointer by freshman Mackenzie Suprano (Cutler/Waterford) with 46 seconds left in the second period broke a 32-all tie and gave ONU a 35-32 lead at intermission.

Bethany finally broke through and grabbed the lead at 40-39 with 3:12 gone in the third.

Thirty three of Bethany's first 45 points came from three-point land, where the Bison started 11-of-20 before the Northern defense limited BC to just one three-pointer the final 14 minutes of the game.

Ohio Northern made 30-of-65 field goals for 46.2 percent and was 6-of-20 from 3-point range for 30.0 percent, while BC made 20-of-49 field goals for 40.8 percent and was 12-of-24 from beyond the arc for 50.0 percent.

ONU was 10-of-10 from the free throw line for a perfect 100 percent, and Bethany was 3-of-8 for 37.5 percent.

Northern out-rebounded Bethany by a 36-31 margin.

The Orange and Black finished the Bluffton Tournament with a 2-0 record after a 60-50 victory over Denison on Thursday.

The Polar Bears return to Ohio Athletic Conference action on Wednesday with a 7 pm contest at Otterbein.