No. 17 Women's Basketball falls 58-55 at Ohio Wesleyan

ADA — The 17th-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team fell 58-55 in a defensive battle at Ohio Wesleyan on Tuesday evening.

The Basics

• Records: #17 Ohio Northern (1-2 overall), Ohio Wesleyan (4-1 overall)
• Venue: Branch Rickey Arena — Delaware, Ohio

The Game

• Senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) led the Polar Bears with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
• Juniors Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) and Abby Dickson (Germantown/Valley View) scored eight points each to go with six points from junior Layla Dials (Willard).
• Kasey Schipfer tallied game-highs of 26 points and nine rebounds for the Battling Bishops.
• ONU led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter.
• The Bishops led 21-20 with 2:28 left in the second quarter, but ONU ended the frame on a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from Serbin with five seconds remaining to take a 27-21 halftime edge.
• Layups from Serbin and Allen extended the ONU lead to 10 to start the third quarter before OWU answered with a 15-0 run to take a 36-31 edge with 4:11 left in the period.
• ONU ended that run with a 3-pointer from sophomore Noelle Ruane (St. Marys), but the Bishops continued to lead throughout the rest of the quarter and entered the fourth up 43-39.
• OWU led by six, 47-41, with 6:53 left, but a 3-pointer from Dickson with 1:41 remaining cut the ONU deficit to one, 54-53.
• A pair of free throws from Serbin once again got ONU within one, 56-55, with 18 seconds left.
• After a series of ONU fouls, Schipfer made a pair of free throws to put OWU up 58-55 with 11 seconds remaining, and the Polar Bears were unable to get off a potential game-tying 3-point shot.
• Ohio Northern made 20-of-48 field goals for 41.7% and was 5-of-19 from beyond the arc for 26.3%, while OWU was 25-of-58 from the floor for 43.1% and made 2-of-14 3-pointers for 14.3%.
• ONU hade 10-of-12 free throws for 83.3%, and OWU was 6-of-9 from the line for 66.7%.
• The Polar Bears out-rebounded the Bishops 33-31 but were forced into 17 turnovers.

Notables

• Ohio Northern is now 20-10 all-time against Ohio Wesleyan, including an 11-3 mark on the road. ONU had won six straight games in the series prior to Tuesday's defeat.
• Serbin is ONU's all-time leader in career steals with 231 and ranks third in program history with 309 career assists.
• Serbin ranks 18th on ONU's all-time career scoring list with 957 points. She ranks fifth all-time with 136 made 3-pointers in her career, and her 173 made free throws are tied for 17th all time.
• Serbin is five rebounds and 35 made field goals away from breaking into the top 20 of the program's all-time lists in those categories.
• The Polar Bears are ranked 17th nationally in the latest WBCA Top 25 Poll and No. 10 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll.
• Fourth-year head coach Mark Huelsman is now 50-23 at Ohio Northern.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday when they host No. 16 Trine (Ind.) at 2 p.m.