Dirksen, Bullimore lead No. 15 Women's Basketball to eighth straight victory

By Caleb Scott

ADA — Junior Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carroll) and senior Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) led the No. 15-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team to its eighth straight victory as Northern defeated John Carroll 75-37 on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 8-1 overall and remain perfect in the Ohio Athletic Conference at 4-0, while the Blue Streaks drop to 2-6, 0-4.

Dirksen led all scorers as she poured in a season-high 20 points and added six rebounds and three assists, while Bullimore tallied her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Seniors Lindsey Black (Urbana/Graham) and Courtney Cramer (Arcadia) chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.

With 1,126 career points, Bullimore moved into seventh place all-time on ONU's scoring list.

Northern raced out to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter after a 3-pointer from Cramer on Northern's opening possession sparked the run.

The Blue Streaks would climb within 16-11 before a Bullimore jumper and a 3-pointer from junior Alyssa Manley (Lima/Bath) pushed the lead to 21-11 after the first quarter.

Cramer would score four of the first six points of the second quarter before a jumper from Bullimore with 5:55 remaining in the half forced a JCU timeout with Northern leading 27-13.

JCU would hit a 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining in the half to cut the gap to 35-20 before Dirksen went on a personal 5-0 run to push the lead to 40-20 at the intermission.

John Carroll was able to get within 46-31 with 5:57 remaining in the third quarter before Northern closed the quarter out on a 14-5 run to take a 60-36 lead into the final period of play.

ONU's would gain its largest lead of the evening and seal the victory with 3:20 left in the contest as sophomore Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local) completed an and-one to push the lead to 75-37.

The Polar Bears shot 30-of-56 (53.6 percent) from the field, including 6-of-17 (35.3 percent) from 3-point range, while the Blue Streaks were 15-of-54 (27.8 percent) from the field and 3-of-19 (15.8 percent) from 3-point range.

Northern outrebounded JCU by a 40-28 margin.

ONU will return to action on Dec. 29 at 12 pm as it takes on Hanover (Ind.) in the opening round of the Wittenberg Tournament.