Senior Abby Weeks (West Chester/Mount Notre Dame) netted a career-high 18 points to lead the Ohio Northern women's basketball team on Tuesday evening.
The Polar Bears propelled themselves into the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals by defeating Mount Union 58-50 inside the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears (20-6 overall) will travel to University Heights to face No. 25-ranked John Carroll on Thursday at 7 p.m.
MTU (14-12 overall) cut the deficit to 54-50 with 53 seconds left. The Purple Raiders fouled 20 seconds later. Junior Sydney Ward (Columbus/Upper Arlington) and Weeks each drilled a pair of free throws to ice the game down the stretch.
Weeks tied her career-high with 18 points and added five rebounds and three steals.
Ward added nine rebounds and five rebounds while sophomore Alissa Stahler (Lima/Shawnee) chipped in eight points and four rebounds.
Sophomore Lexi Jacobs (Wapakoneta) scored eight points to go with four rebounds.
The Purple Raiders led 16-12 after 10 minutes of action, but the Polar Bears took a 28-23 advantage into halftime.
Northern's lead ballooned to 12 with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter before MTU closed the gap to 40-35 after three quarters.
A jumper by Stahler extended the ONU lead to 47-39 with 7:36 left. The Purple Raiders scored the game's next six points, but a Jacobs jump shot put the Polar Bears up six.
ONU held MTU to just two points in the final 3:06 of the game.
Ohio Northern was 21-for-49 (42.9%) from the floor and 7-for-18 (38.9%) from 3-point range. Mount Union was 18-for-57 (31.6%) overall and 5-for-29 (17.2%).
Northern held a 35-32 advantage on the boards, led by nine rebounds from senior Jaclyn Yankle(Youngstown/Cardinal Mooney).
2019-20 marks the fourth straight season Ohio Northern has advanced to the OAC Tournament Semifinals. The Polar Bears have reached the OAC Tournament Finals each of the last three seasons.
