Senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) scored 12 or her game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to lead the No. 16-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team to a 54-43 victory over No. 25 Berea (Ky.) in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday night at the ONU Sports Center.
"It was a grind," ONU head coach Mark Huelsman said. "Tons of credit to Berea. They played really well defensively and were really physical. We had a hard time getting the shots that we wanted on offense, and they had players make tough shots down the stretch. They won 26 games for a reason. I was proud of our players for showing the toughness down the stretch to be able to pull out a really good NCAA Tournament win."
The Polar Bears (24-4 overall) advance to the second round where they will face Wisconsin-Oshkosh (20-8), who was a 58-55 winner over Washington & Lee (Va.) (22-7) in the other first round game.
Berea ends its season at 26-3.
The ONU-UWO contest will be Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the ONU Sports Center.
Sophomore Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and junior Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings) had seven points and 10 rebounds for ONU.
The Generals were led by Destiny Cobbs' double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds and Aaliyah Hampton with 13 points.
Ohio Northern got a layup by freshman Mackenzie Suprano (Cutler/Waterford) just before the end of the third quarter and a layup by Serbin 14 seconds into the fourth quarter to lead 40-32 with 9:46 left in the game.
The lead was 45-35 with 7:05 left when BC scored six consecutive points to climb back within 45-41 with 4:20 remaining in the game.
Sophomore Abi Akamine (lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna) made an acrobatic layup with 3:04 to go to extend the lead to 47-41.
A pair of free throws by Combs at the 2:10 mark made it 47-43, but Serbin, the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year, drilled a 3-pointer with 1:58 left to push the lead to 50-43.
Allen scored inside with 1:08 left to make it 52-43 and Serbin made a layup with 33 seconds to go to ice the contest.
"Brynn always steps up," Luersman said. "She's a great senior leader, and it's great to have her step up in those moments when we need her. It energizes the whole team."
Ohio Northern made 21-of-60 field goals for 35.0 percent and were 2-of-13 from beyond the arc for 15.4 percent, while Berea was 14-of-58 from the floor for 24.1 percent and made 3-of-16 three-pointers for 18.8 percent.
ONU hade 10-of-14 free throws for 71.4 percent and BC was 12-of-18n from the line for 66.7 percent.
The Polar Bears out-rebounded the Generals 45-43.
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