The Ohio Northern women's basketball team slowed down the high-scoring Wilmington Quakers Wednesday night en route to a 72-64 victory. The win improves the Polar Bears to 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the loss drops the Quakers to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in conference.
Wilmington entered Wednesday's game averaging north of 87 points per game, and ONU held the Quakers to a season-low point output. Wilmington hit 40 percent (22 of 55) of its field-goal attempts and 29.2 percent (7 of 24) of its shots from 3-point land.
Northern, on the other hand, shot 41.4 percent (24 of 58) from the field and 34.8 percent (8 of 23) from deep. The Polar Bears made 61.5 percent (16 of 26) from the free-throw line, while the Quakers connected on just 54.2 percent (13 of 24) from the charity stripe.
ONU enjoyed a decided 50-25 advantage on the glass, which included an 18-7 edge in offensive rebounding.
Senior Jaclyn Yankle (Youngstown/Cardinal Mooney) led a balanced scoring attack for ONU. She poured in 15 points and corralled four rebounds.
Fellow senior Abby Weeks (West Chester/Mount Notre Dame) added 14 points and five rebounds. Freshman Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) stuffed the stat sheet with a career-high 11 points, six boards and three assists, while senior Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local) logged a double-double, consisting of 10 points and 10 rebounds to go alongside a team-high four assists.
McKayla and Hannah Binkley paced the Quakers with 14 points apiece.
ONU took control early, jumping out to a 19-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Polar Bears extend their cushion to 37-28 at halftime before owning a 55-45 advantage ahead of the fourth period.
The Polar Bears have now won 13 in a row over Wilmington.
Northern remains on the road, traveling to Capital for a 3 p.m. contest Saturday.
Men's game
The Ohio Northern men's basketball team opened the home portion of its schedule with an 85-69 loss to Wilmington on Wednesday evening at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears fall to 2-4 overall and are 0-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Quakers improve to 3-5, 2-0.
Freshman Landon Long (Mason) scored a career-high 19 points, senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) added 15 points and junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton) chipped in 11 points for ONU.
Wilmington was led by a DaeShawn Jackson with a game-high 29 points, Jerry Mansfield with 19 points and Abdul Kanu with 12 points.
Northern got off to a slow start and were not able to fully recover.
After an opening basket by Long, WC scored the game's next 15 points to go up 15-2 just 3:59 into the contest.
The Polar Bears would battle back within 25-21 on a basket by Bryan at the 11:51 mark of the half and would trail 45-37 at halftime.
The lead bounced between five and 10 points in the second half until the Quakers went on a 9-0 run to grab a 76-62 advantage with 5:00 left to play.
Ohio Northern made good on 25 of its 52 field goal attempts for 48.1 percent and was 6-of-14 from 3-point range for 42.9 percent, while Wilmington was 33-of-54 from the floor for 61.1 percent and was 9-of-20 from beyond the arc for 45 percent.
WC's full-court pressure forced 20 ONU turnovers, which resulted in a 29-13 advantage in points off turnovers.
The rebounding battle ended in a 26-26 tie.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with a 2 pm home contest against Capital.
