By Andrew Korba

Senior Cenzie Yoder became the 12th player in Ohio Northern women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points, as the Ohio Northern women's basketball team defeated Muskingum 81-71 on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 6-2 on the season and 1-2 in the OAC, while the Fighting Muskies fall to 2-5, 1-1.

Yoder stepped up and drained a free throw with 3:10 left in the game for her 1,000th career point.

"I am really happy that Cenzie was able to get it," said head coach Michele Durand. "She showed today how good of an all-around player she is. She kept her teammates involved all game knowing she was close to this milestone."

Yoder finished the game with nine points, a career-high eight assists and seven rebounds.

Junior Jordan Kimes led all players with a game high 17 points, while pulling down five rebounds.

Sophomore Carly Thomas finished with 13 points and senior Sara Kocian added 10 points.

The Polar Bears came out strong and scored the first nine points of the game to build an early lead.

Kimes scored on a layup to cap off a 7-0 run and expand the Northern lead to 21-10, with just under nine minutes left in the first half.

Northern used another 8-0 run to build a 38-23 lead with 2:00 left before the break.

Kocian scored five points to spark a 7-0 run to begin the second half, giving the Polar Bears a 49-29 advantage.

A three pointer from freshman Britt Lauck with just under seven minutes top play gave ONU its largest lead of the game at 75-50.

"Today was a good win for us," Durand added. "Our ball movement and sharing was great. This gives us some momentum as we continue our conference season."

The Polar Bears finished 31-of-61 (50.8 percent) from the field and shot 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) in three pointers, while Muskingum was 22-of-68 (32.4 percent) and 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) from beyond the arc.

Northern held a 45-34 advantage in rebounding and also scored 20 points off of turnovers, while the Muskies had eight.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Wednesday, when it hosts Otterbein at 7:30 pm.