There were quite a few people to honor prior to the start of Saturday's game between the Ohio Northern women's basketball team and Muskingum.
Northern head coach Michele Durand was coaching her last regular-season home game inside the ONU Sports Center, and she was recognized alongside four seniors.
The Polar Bears celebrated those five in fine fashion with a lopsided 76-48 victory. The win improved ONU to 19-6 overall and 13-5 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the losses dropped the Muskies to 3-20 overall and 1-17 in conference action.
Senior Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local) paced Northern, pouring in a team-high 18 points on 9 of 10 shooting with six rebounds. Fellow senior Jaclyn Yankle (Youngstown/Cardinal Mooney) added 14 points and six boards, while sophomore Alissa Stahler (Lima/Shawnee) chipped in eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Polar Bears connected on 42.6 percent (29 of 68) of their field-goal attempts and 25.7 percent (9 of 35) of their 3-pointers. Northern also dominated the glass, winning the rebounding battle 50-33 — 12-7 on the offensive boards — which equated to a 13-7 edge in second-chance points.
The Muskies shot 28.8 percent (17 of 59) from the floor and 25.9 percent (7 of 27) from 3-point land. Emily Yeager finished with a game-high 19 points to go alongside 10 rebounds.
ONU swiftly built a double-digit lead, taking a 19-9 advantage into the second quarter. Northern extend its cushion to 34-23 at halftime before ballooning its lead to 58-33 ahead of the game's final period.
The Polar Bears enter the OAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6-seeded Mount Union Tuesday 7 p.m. Northern swept the season series, winning 58-57 Dec. 7 in Ada and 70-63 Feb. 1 in Alliance.
Men's game
Sophomore Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 93-79 victory at Muskingum in the season finale at Steele Center.
The Polar Bears end their season at 9-16 overall and 5-13 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Muskies end up 8-17, 3-15.
Senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) posted his second double-double in the past three games with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton) scored 17 points and freshman C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) added 16 points for ONU.
Marcus Dempsey led Muskingum with 36 points.
Northern went on a 10-0 run to break a 29-all tie and go ahead 39-29 with 6:10 left in the first half.
The lead bounced between 11 and seven the rest of the half and a three-pointer by senior Austin Allemeier(Lima/Elida) at the buzzer gave ONU a 51-42 lead at intermission.
MU battled back to go ahead 64-63 with 12:30 left, but and and-1 by Bryan at the 11:40 mark gave ONU the lead for good at 66-64.
A 12-2 run extended the Polar Bear advantage to 80-68 with 6:14 left in the game.
Bryan scored inside with 4: 45 to go made it 85-70 and ONU was not threatened the rest of the way.
Ohio Northern made 34-of-65 field goal attempts for 52.3% and was 13-of-31 from long range for 41.9%, while Muskingum was 30-of-78 for 38.5% and was 10-of-42 from three-point range for 23.8%.
The Polar Bears end their season on a 3-game winning streak and finish tied for eighth place with Otterbein at 5-13. The Cardinals win the head-to-head tiebreaker with ONU and will be the No. 8 seed in next week's OAC Tournament.
