By Tim Glon
No. 3-ranked Ohio Northern advanced into the finals of the 2013 Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament with a 60-37 victory over Wilmington in the Third Round on Thursday night at the ONU Sports Center.
The top-seeded Polar Bears advance to the finals with a 25-1 record, while the fourth-seeded Quakers end their season with a 15-12 record.
ONU runs its school record winning streak to 24 games and has now won 16 consecutive games by 10 points or more.
Northern will host second-seeded Otterbein in the finals on Saturday night at 7:30 pm at the ONU Sports Center.
Otterbein defeated third-seeded Mount Union 80-57 in the other Third Round game on Thursday.
Junior Cenzie Yoder scored 10 points to lead a balanced offensive attack that saw 11 different Polar Bears score.
Northern took control of the game by opening the second half on a 10-1 run to go up 41-24 with 14:29 left.
ONU then followed with a 9-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by senior Morgan Dumbaugh, to go up 52-28 with 9:54 to play.
"We talked at halftime about rebounding and matching Wilmington's intensity," ONU head coach Michele Durand said. "I thought we did an outstanding job on both ends of the floor in the second half. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to win both the OAC Regular Season and Tournament titles and we have put ourselves in a position to do that on Saturday."
The Polar Bears jumped to a quick 7-2 lead as senior Joanna Snyder, Yoder, senior Taylor Hermiller and Dumbaugh all scored, only to see the Quakers rally to go up 11-7.
A 7-0 ONU run gave the hosts a 14-11 lead and a 12-2 run later in the half put Ohio Northern ahead 28-18 with 3:54 left in the half.
Northern led 31-23 at halftime.
The Polar Bears made 25-of-56 field goal attempts for 44.6 percent and held the Quakers to just 12-of-54 shooting for 22.2 percent, including a 4-for-22 effort in the second half.
ONU out-rebounded Wilmington 42-36 led by eight rebounds from Yoder and Dumbaugh.
