By Tim Glon
ADA — Senior Sydney Ward (Columbus/Upper Arlington) had her first career double-double to lead the Ohio Northern women's basketball team in a 69-62 loss to Otterbein on Saturday night at the ONU Sports Center.
Ward scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Polar Bears (1-3 overall, 1-3 Ohio Athletic Conference).
Sophomore Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) added 10 points for ONU.
The Cardinals (3-1, 3-1) had three players in double figures in scoring, led by Jenna Hoschouer with 16 points.
Northern got off to a cold start in the first quarter, going 0-for-9 from 3-point range and was just 5-for-19 overall to trail 22-12 10 minutes into the game.
The Polar Bears turned their focus on the inside game the rest of the way and rallied to within 35-29 at halftime.
Ward scored 17 of her 20 points in the second half as the hosts continued their success in the paint. ONU held a 36-22 advantage in points in the point and scored 22 second chance points off of 23 offensive rebounds in the game.
OU led 59-48 with 4:27 left in the contest, but a 3-pointer by Serbin got Northern within 64-60 with 39 seconds left.
The Cardinals then went 5-of-6 from the foul line the rest of the way to ice the game.
Ohio Northern finished the game 21-of-65 from the floor for 32.3 percent and made 2-of-25 three-pointer for eight percent.
Otterbein was 21-of-50 from the floor for 42.0 percent and hit 6-of-20 3-pointers for 30.0 percent.
ONU dominated the boards by a 48-31 margin.
"I am proud of the toughness we showed tonight," ONU head coach Mark Huelsman said. "Sydney kept fighting through contact and success inside. She is a hard worker and was rewarded for that tonight. We have struggled shooting the ball the past two nights. We need to keep taking good shots with confidence and they will start to go in."
The Polar Bears will return to action next Friday and Saturday with a pair of games against Heidelberg.
FRIDAY'S GAME
ADA — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team fell at Otterbein 73-48 on Friday evening at the Rike Center.
The Polar Bears drop to 1-2 overall and are 1-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Cardinals improve to 2-1, 2-1.
Senior Sydney Ward (Columbus/Upper Arlington) led Ohio Northern with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Otterbein was led by Angelia Jackson and Katie McCrary with 19 points each.
ONU was cold from the floor for the evening, making just 17-of-68 shots for 25.0 percent and were 4-of-24 from 3-point range for 16.7 percent.
OU made 29-of-62 field goals for 46.8 percent and was 11-of-25 from beyond the arc for 44.0 percent.
The Polar Bears opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run, led by four points from sophomore Brynn Serbin(Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) to grab an 18-16 lead two minutes into the second quarter.
The Cardinals finished the half on a 19-8 run to lead 35-26 at intermission, then opened the second half on a 13-0 run to go ahead 48-26 with 7:31 remaining in the third period.
Each team grabbed 46 rebounds in the game. ONU forced OU into 23 turnovers while committing only 19.
The two teams will play the second half of the back-to-back on Saturday at 6 pm at the ONU Sports Center.
