Women's Basketball: OAC Tournament Semifinals - Otterbein (17-9 Overall) at #24 Ohio Northern (22-4 Overall)
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 - 7:30 pm - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
| OAC Tournament Site | Gameday Program (.pdf) |
Thursday's Contest: Ohio Northern enters Thursday evening's semifinal matchup after a 76-60 victory over Wilmington on Tuesday evening in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament ... Senior Lindsey Black scored a career-high 17 points to lead the Polar Bears in the victory, while senior Alexis Kirkbride tied a career-high with 12 points, senior Amy Bullimore added 11 points and sophomore Emily Mescher also scored 11 points for ONU ... The Polar Bears are making their league-best 32nd appearance in the OAC Tournament ... The Polar Bears have won the OAC Tournament title four times, most recently in 2016-17 ... ONU is 25-27 all-time in the tournament ... Bullimore currently paces the Polar Bears and the OAC with a conference-best 17.2 ppg and 48 blocks ... Bullimore also leads the team and ranks third in the OAC, shooting .548 from the field and ranks second in the OAC averaging 9.8 rpg ... The senior needs 36 points to break the all-time single season scoring record of 483 points at Ohio Northern set by Char Smith in 1988 ... Kirkbride currently ranks second in the OAC, shooting .463 from 3-point range and leads the team with 37 three point FG's after hitting four 3-pointers against Wilmington ... Dirksen ranks second on the team with 9.0 points per contest and ranks first on the team and sixth in the OAC with 75 assists ... Bullimore currently leads the team with 33 steals, while Dirksen is second with 31 steals ... Otterbein is making its 31st appearance in the OAC Tournament ... The Cardinals advanced to the 2018 semifinals after defeating Baldwin Wallace 74-64 ... Junior Ali Cartnal led the way with 31 points while also receiving 11 from senior Kiersten Taylor ... Sophomore Abbie Scholz led the Cards with a game-high nine rebounds ... Otterbein handed Northern its most recent loss as it defeated Northern 64-56 on Feb. 14 ... The Cardinals are 16-30 all-time in the OAC Tournament ... Taylor currently leads OU and ranks fifth in the OAC with 14.0 ppg, while Cartnal is second on the team with 12.8 ppg, and junior Dani Kissel is third with 12.2 ppg ... Defensively, Scholz averages a team-best 8.0 rpg (fifth in the OAC) ... Cartnal leads the team and ranks fifth in the OAC in assists (81) and steals (40).
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #10 Lindsey Black, Sr. (7.8 ppg, 57 assists)
G - #20 Courtney Cramer, Sr. (6.1 ppg, 30 3PT FG)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, So. (9.0 ppg, 75 assists)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Jr. (2.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
F - #44 Amy Bullimore, Sr. (17.2 ppg, 9.8 rpg)
ONU Statistical Leaders
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | Blocks | |||||||||||||||||
| 1. | Bullimore | 17.2 | 1. | Bullimore | 9.8 | 1. | Kirkbride | 37 | 1. | Dirksen | 75 | 1. | Bullimore | 33 | 1. | Bullimore | 48 | |||||
| 2. | Dirksen | 9.0 | 2. | Wyss | 5.0 | 2. | Cramer | 30 | 2. | Kirkbride | 71 | 2. | Dirksen | 31 | 2. | Dirksen | 8 | |||||
| 3. | Black | 7.8 | 3. | Mescher | 4.2 | 3. | Manley | 23 | 3. | Black | 57 | 3. | Weeks |
22 |
3. |
Wyss |
5 |
All-Time Series: Northern leads the all-time series by a 51-31 margin ... The two teams split in the regular season, with each team claiming victories on the opponents home court ... Northern has won 16 of the last 17 matchups ... The two teams last met in the OAC Tournament in the 2013 OAC Tournament Championship where ONU defeated OU 73-46.
ONU head coach Michele Durand: Durand is in her 17th season at ONU with a 296-162 record, a winning percentage of .646 ... She became ONU's all-time winningest head coach on 11/21/17 in a victory over St. Mary's (Ind.).
