Senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) made two free throws with five seconds left to send the No. 18 Ohio Northern women's basketball team to a 52-51 victory over Otterbein in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals at the ONU Sports Center, February 23.
With the win, the top-seeded Polar Bears (22-4) advance to the OAC Tournament finals to face No. 2 seed Marietta (20-6), which defeated third-seeded Baldwin Wallace 71-65 in Thursday's other semifinal.
Northern will host Marietta in Saturday's championship game at 2 p.m. This marks ONU's first OAC Tournament finals appearance since the 2018-19 season.
Fourth-seeded Otterbein ends its season at 17-10 overall.
Sophomore Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) led the way for ONU on Thursday, posting a double-double with 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
Serbin added 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals to go with nine points from junior Grace Dean (Avon/Lake).
Katie McCrary led OU with 12 points.
Thursday's game was tightly contested throughout. Otterbein led by as many as five points, and ONU's largest lead was three. Late heroics from sophomore Layla Dials (Willard) and Serbin proved to be the difference.
After junior Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings) tied the score at 48 with just over a minute remaining, Dials gave ONU the lead with a layup with 14 seconds left.
That lead was short-lived, however, as McCrary converted an and-1 at the other end of the floor to put OU up 51-50 with 10 seconds left.
Out of a timeout and with time running down, Serbin drove to the basket and was fouled, giving her two free-throw attempts. She drained them both to give the Polar Bears a 52-51 edge, and the Cardinals were unable to answer.
OU led 16-15 after the first quarter, 27-24 at halftime and 42-39 at the end of the third period, setting up the frenetic finish.
The Cardinals led by five, 44-39, early in the fourth quarter and remained ahead until a layup from Luersman tied the score at 46 with 2:30 left.
OU regained the lead on a jumper from Claire Radabaugh with 2:01 remaining before Luersman answered with her layup with 1:01 left.
Ohio Northern made 18-of-56 field goals for 32.1% and was 1-of-14 from 3-point range for 7.1%, while Otterbein made 22-of-61 field goals for 36.1% and was 3-of-12 from beyond the arc for 25%.
ONU was 15-of-25 from the free-throw line for 60%, and OU was 4-of-7 for 57.1%.
Northern out-rebounded Otterbein by a 48-36 margin.
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