No. 5 Women's Basketball's historical season comes to an end with 76-66 loss to Christopher Newport (Va.)
By Caleb Scott
ADA — The No. 5-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team saw its historical season come to an end on Saturday evening at the ONU Sports Center in the Elite 8 round the of the 2017 Women's NCAA Div. III Basketball Tournament.
The Polar Bears end the season 30-1 overall, while the Captains continue on the the Final Four and improve to 29-2.
Four players scored in double figures for ONU led by junior Amy Bullimore's (Morrow/Little Miami) 19 points.
Bullimore also added game-high's in rebounds (7) and blocks (2).
Senior Britt Lauck (Lima/Shawnee) eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career as she tallied 14 points and added three assists and two steals.
The senior goes down as the single season record holder for both assists (112) and free throw percentage (.880) and becomes only the 14th player in school history to hit the 1,000-point mark.
Sophomore Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreak/Carroll) added 13 points, five rebounds and four assists, while junior Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham) chipped in 11 points for the Polar Bears.
Northern got off to a fast start as Bullimore scored the contest's first six points.
After CNU hit a 3-pointer, Bullimore answered with a layup with 7:41 remaining in the first quarter to give Northern an 8-3 lead.
The Captains were able to hit a 3-pointer with five ticks left in the first quarter to knot the game at 18-18 after one period.
Northern was outscored 23-8 in the second quarter, including a 21-4 run for CNU to open the period.
A jumper by Sam Porter with 7:51 remaining in the third quarter gave CNU its biggest lead of the game at 47-26.
From there, Northern would use a 12-0 run fueled by seven points from Black allowed the Polar Bears to climb back within 47-38 with 2:20 left in the third quarter.
Two free throws from Lauck at the end of the third quarter pulled ONU within 50-42 heading in to the final period.
After trailing 54-44, Northern used a 7-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Dirksen to close the gap to three points with 6:05 left in the contest.
From there, CNU used a 9-0 run to regain a comfortable 63-51 lead with 4:48 to go in the contest.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Lauck and Dirksen allowed ONU to get within 63-59, but would not prove to be enough as the Captains went on to win the contest.
Northern shot 25-of-49 (51.0 percent) from the field, including 6-of-15 (40.0 percent) from the 3-point line.
ONU and CNU tied with 28 rebounds each in the contest.
"I'm really proud of my team and how we fought tonight," said head coach Michele Durand. "We fought to the end and didn't give up. We had a great season and these girls have nothing to be ashamed of."