By Blake Moore
The Ohio Northern women's basketball program held the visiting Marietta Pioneers to a 33% shooting clip and forced 18 total turnovers, propelling the Polar Bears to a critical, 64-50 Ohio Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon inside the ONU Sports Center in Ada.
With the triumph, ONU improves to 10-5 overall and evens their conference mark at 4-4 in the 2018-19 campaign. Meanwhile, the Pioneers fall to 9-6 overall and 4-4 against the league circuit.
Senior guard Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carroll) and junior guard Abby Weeks (West Chester/Mount Notre Dame) each turned in double-digit scoring efforts, registering 17 and 12 points, respectively. The tandem would also record four assists each and combine for five steals and two blocks at the defensive end.
Seniors Tori Wyss (Ada) and Alyssa Manley (Lima/Bath) would be next on the scoring charts with nine points apiece with the latter adding four assists to tie for the team lead.
Junior center Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local) nearly recorded her second double-double outing this season, posting eight points on three-for-seven shooting and hauling in a team-high nine rebounds.
Marietta would be paced offensively by Shay Lett and Jo Herd-Middlebrooks with 12- and 10-point efforts, respectively.
In the first quarter, the Pioneers got out to a quick lead with a 5-0 run that spanned the first two minutes in the contest. However, Northern would respond immediately with their own 8-0 run that took just over one minute to complete, giving the Polar Bears their first lead Saturday afternoon. From there, the game would remain close throughout the opening stanza with ONU owning a slight 13-12 edge after the first quarter concluded.
The Orange and Black started the second frame with a 10-2 run that lasted until the first media timeout at the 4:58 mark in the period. Wyss would kickstart the stretch with a layup and a three-pointer before Dirksen and Mescher added a basket each to the cause.
Ohio Northern would then string together a 6-0 run moments following a converted Marietta jumpshot, helping the home side outscore the Pioneers 18-8 in the second stanza.
Owning a 31-20 lead at the break, the Polar Bears would return to action looking to break away from their weekend visitors, opening the half with an 8-0 run that included a Weeks' jumper and back-to-back Manley three-pointers to force a Marietta timeout.
Northern would expand the lead to as many as 20 points at the 6:49 and 5:54 marks before the Pioneers began to close the gap. Following the third period media timeout, the visitors would outscore ONU 15-2 to close the third period, narrowing the lead to just seven before the final 10 minutes began.
In the fourth period, the home team assembled one final 8-0 run midway through the frame, stretching the lead back to a comfortable 15-point cushion that proved to be too much for the Pioneers to overcome. With the game on the line, Ohio Northern held Marietta to just 11 points on 25% shooting in the final stanza to ensure the victory.
The Polar Bears will return to action this Wednesday evening when they wrap up their current four-game home stand against OAC foe Otterbein inside the ONU Sports Center. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. in Ada.
Men's Basketball recap
By Tim Glon
Sophomore Colton Bachman (Piqua) tied his career-high with 18 points and senior All-American Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) scored 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team in a tough 87-80 overtime loss to No. 10-ranked Marietta on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center..
The Polar Bears fall to 4-11 overall and are 0-8 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Pioneers are now 13-2, 7-1.
Freshman Daniel Unruh (Elida) also tied a career-high 14 points and hit a 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer to send the game into overtime. He scored ONU's final nine points in regulation over a 4:56 span.
Trailing 75-72 with 3.8 seconds left, Unruh came off a screen and nailed a floating three to tie the game at 75.
But the Pioneers scored the first four points of overtime and did not trail in the extra session.
MC led 75-68 with 2:05 to go in regulation and Unruh scored on a floater in the lane with 1:49 to go.
He followed with a steal and a layup with 1:15 left to pull Northern within 75-72.
After a Marietta miss and three timeouts, Unruh nailed a three from the right wing just ahead of the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Ohio Northern got off to a solid start and a pair of free throws by Bruns gave the hosts a 32-22 lead with 4:33 left in the half.
ONU led by as many as 44-33 with 1:24 left in first period behind 15 first-half points from Bruns and 13 first half points from Bachman.
"We played better today than we did last game," ONU head coach Rich Bensman said. "I'm pleased with how we played and how we are working at getting better each day. We got off a a good start and shot the ball well from deep. We played very well against a top-10 ranked team and had chances to win the game."
Marietta was led by 25 points from Jason Ellis and 13 points each from Caleb Hoying and Lukas Isaly.
ONU made 31-of-67 shots from the field for 46.3 percent and were 9-of-28 from three-point range for 32.1 percent, while MC converted 32-of-72 shot attempts for 44.4 percent and 8-of-26 three-pointers for 30.8 percent.
Marietta out-rebounded Ohio Northern 43-38 and won the turnover battle 18-11.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday at Otterbein.
