The Ohio Northern women's basketball team inched closer to securing a first-round home game at the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Wednesday night inside the ONU Sports Center. The Polar Bears downed Otterbein 69-59 to snap their modest two-game losing streak. 

The victory improved Northern to 16-6 overall and 10-5 in OAC play. The loss dropped the Otterbein to 11-11 overall and 6-9 in conference action. 

With three regular-season games remaining, ONU needs one win or a loss by either Marietta or Capital to secure a top-four seed. 

The Polar Bears appeared as though they were going to ease to their 16th win Wednesday night. They doubled up Otterbein 16-8 in the first quarter and extended that cushion to 40-25 at halftime.

ONU ballooned its lead to as many as 20, at 49-29, early in the third quarter before the Cardinals made a run. A 12-2 spurt made it a 51-41 game with just over a minute to play in the third period. Otterbein drew within eight, at 59-51, with 6:06 to play, but Northern's lead never shrunk below that. 

The Polar Bears connected on 50 percent (26 of 52) of their field-goal attempts and 33.3 percent (6 of 18) of their 3-pointers. The Cardinals shot 39.6 percent (21 of 53) from the floor and 37.5 percent (6 of 16) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Seniors Jaclyn Yankle (Youngstown/Cardinal Mooney) and Abby Weeks (West Chester/Mount Notre Dame) poured in 14 points apiece. Sophomores Lexi Jacobs (Wapakoneta) and Alissa Stahler (Lima/Shawnee), chipped in nine and eight points, respectively. 

Jenna Hoschouer paced Otterbein with 14 points. 

Northern travels to John Carroll Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip. The Polar Bears downed the Blue Streaks 62-55 in Ada on Jan. 4 of this season.

Men’s game

Sophomore Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) tied his career-high with five 3-pointers for the second consecutive game to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team in an 83-66 loss at Otterbein on Wednesday evening at the Rike Center.

The Polar Bears (6-16 overall, 2-13 in the Ohio Athletic Conference) also got 14 points from freshman C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick), 13 points from junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton) and 11 points from senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour).

The Cardinals improve to 7-15, 4-11. OU was led by Dallas Patrick with 20 points and Jake Justice with 19 points.

Otterbein outscored ONU 20-4 over a 6:42 span in the first half to snap a 12-all tie and take a 32-16 lead with 5:54 left before intermission.

Waugh nailed four 3-pointers in 3:23 to get ONU within 41-35 with 1:30 left in the period, but OU ended the half on a 6-0 run to lead 47-35 after 20 minutes.

Northern opened the second half on an 8-2 run to get within 49-43 just 2:31 into the period.

But the Cardinals answered with a 17-5 run to extend its lead to 66-48 with 11:45 remaining.

Waugh also nailed five threes against Marietta on Saturday, finishing with a team-high 19 points in that contest.

Northern connected on 40.3 percent (25 of 62) of its shots from the floor and 22.2 percent (6 of 27) from 3-point land. Otterbein hit a blistering 53.2 percent (33 of 62) of its field-goal attempts and 42.3 percent (11 of 26) of its 3-point shots.

Otterbein out-rebounded Ohio Northern 39-35.

The Polar Bears will return home from their current three-game road trip with a 3 pm contest against John Carroll on Alumni Day at the ONU Sports Center on Saturday.