By Andrew Korba
The No. 8 Ohio Northern women's basketball team extended their win streak to a school record 17 games with a 61-44 win over Marietta on Saturday afternoon at Ban Johnson Arena.
The Polar Bears are now 18-1 on the season and a perfect 12-0 in OAC play, while the Pioneers fall to 6-13, 1-11.
Junior Cenzie Yoder led the Polar Bears with a game high 13 points.
Senior Morgan Dumbaugh finished with 10 points, while senior Katie Mengos finished with seven points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Candice Alexander and Krissy Rowe each scored 11 points to pace Marietta.
Northern found themselves down early, as MC jumped out to a 9-3 lead.
But ONU scored the next six points to tie the game at 9-9, capped off by a jumper from senior Joanna Snyder.
The Polar Bears then used a 12-0 run to open up a 27-15 lead with 7:40 left in the first half.
Freshman Brooke Espenschied and Mengos each scored three points, while sophomore Jordan Kimes, sophomore Becca Saine and Yoder each added a hoop.
The Pioneers would chip away and cut the ONU lead to 32-26 at the half.
The Polar Bears would use a 14-2 run in the second half to open up a 49-32 advantage with 9:27 remaining.
Marietta would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the game.
ONU shot 21-of-56 (37.5 percent), while the Pioneers were 17-of-58 (29.3 percent).
The Polar Bears were 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from behind the arc, while the Pioneers were just 3-of-14 (21.1 percent).
The Pioneers outrebounded Northern 45-37.
ONU got 20 points from its bench, while Marietta got eight.
The Polar Bears also committed 11 turnovers, compared to 19 for Marietta.
Ohio Northern will be in action again on Wednesday when it welcomes Otterbein to the ONU Sports Center for a 7:30 p.m. game.
