COMPLETE GAME ACCOUNT BELOW
By Monty Siekerman
Here's an update on Friday night's women's basketball tournament games at ONU.
ONU advanced to Saturday's game against Christopher Newport. A record crowd of 1,325 watched the game, which is a crowd record for women's basketball at ONU,
First game
Hope owned the first half, but third quarter beat them. Hope had a chance to tie the game with 8 seconds remaining.
Final score
Chris Newport 79
Hope 75
Second game
First half – Northern was hot to start taking the score to 10-0 when Geneseo called timeout, bringing the ONU crowd to its feet cheering on the Lady Bears.
ONU ran the score to 21-0 before Geneseo got on the board. First quarter ended ONU 25-2.
ONU continued increasing the lead in the second period. Halftime ONU 46-15. ONU hit 61 percent of their field goals while Geneseo hit only 20 percent.
Final score
Ohio Northern 72
Genesceo 55
• Title game Saturday, 8 p.m. - winner advances to Division III Final 4 March 17-18 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.
HERE'S ONU'S GAME ACCOUNT
By Caleb Scott
ADA -- Junior Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) posted a monster double-double as she scored 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead the No. 5-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team into the Elite 8 round with a 72-55 victory over No. 20-ranked SUNY Geneseo on Saturday evening at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears move to 30-0, while the Knights end their season at 28-2.
Northern advances to its first Elite 8 contest in school history and will host No. 15 Christopher Newport (Va.) on Saturday evening.
Bullimore added a game-high four blocks to lead ONU defensively.
"We got fired up in the locker room and came out ready to play," said Bullimore. "We didn't want this to be our last game. I knew my teammates had my back and i just tried to play my game."
Sophomore Tori Wyss (Ada) scored a career-high 10 points off the bench for Northern, while senior Britt Lauck (Lima/Shawnee) and sophomore Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carroll) chipped in nine points each.
ONU got off to a strong start as it opened the game on a 21-0 run behind six points from Bullimore.
Geneseo hit two free throws with a minute left before layups from Bullimore and Dirksen gave Northern a 25-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Knights were able to gain some ground in the second quarter after Sara Ciotti hit a 3-pointer to just over a minute into the period.
Dirksen wasted no time in answering back as she drilled a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession off an assist from junior Cheyenne Raker (Columbus/Westerville South).
From there, the Polar Bears would close the half out of a 16-8 run to take a commanding 46-15 lead into the locker room.
The Knights found life in the third quarter as they opened the period up on an 8-2 run to close the gap to 48-23 with 5:36 left in the period.
After leading by as many as 31 late in the second quarter, the Polar Bears would see their lead shrink to 13 points as a layup by McKenna Brooks cut the lead to 68-55 with 1:46 remaining in the contest.
From there, Lauck would hit two free throws and a layup by junior Courtney Cramer (Arcadia) would seal the 72-55 victory.
The Polar Bears shot 29-of-62 (46.8 percent) from the field, while the Knights were 21-of-60 (35.0 percent) from the field.
ONU won the rebounding battle by a 43-30 margin.
"We are just really happy to be where we are," said head coach Michele Durand. "We talked about starting better and that was huge for us tonight. We knew they would come back in the second half because they are a very good team."
Northern returns to the ONU Sports Center on Saturday evening as it hosts No. 15-ranked Christopher Newport (Va.) at 8 pm.
