WILMINGTON — Wilmington College women’s team gave undefeated and 7th-ranked Ohio Northern a battle right to the final buzzer Wednesday night, but ONU claimed a one point victory, 62-61, in overtime at Fred Raizk Arena.
The defeat drops the Lady Quakers to 12-6 overall and in the Ohio Athletic Conference Wilmington is now 8-3.
Ohio Northern is one of eight undefeated teams in Division III, as they improve to 18-0 overall, 11-0 in the OAC.
Britt Lauck’s jumper from the left elbow with 3 seconds remaining in the overtime period was the game-winning shot for ONU.
Despite a sluggish start, falling behind 13-7 after the opening period, Wilmington battled the Polar Bears to a 21-21 atandoff at halftime. Ohio Northern pulled ahead 38-31 thanks to a 17-10 third period.
Wilmington held the Polar Bears to 13 points in the final period, while scoring 20, to forge a 51-all tie at the end of regulation.
Prior to Lauck’s game-winner, it appeared as though Wilmington was going to pull off the upset. Brittaney Jefferson had a driving layup and was fouled with 00:16 showing on the clock. Jefferson converted the free throw giving WC its last lead, 61-60.
“We got down so bad in the early minutes of the game, trailing by eight points and I told them during the timeout that they had weathered the storm,” said WC head coach Jerry Scheve. “We just had to start playing our type of game. After we got it tied up at halftime, I felt that we were in control of the game. When we played them up there they came out really strong in the third period and just put us away.
“We stayed right with them and I thought our defense in the final period was as good as we have played all year. Unfortunately, they found some holes in what we were doing and we just could not answer them on our final possession.”
Jefferson and teammate Mackenzie Campbell scored 19 points each for Wilmington, and Savannah Hooper came off the bench to add 10 points.
For Ohio Northern, Amy Bullimore was high scorer with 15 (and 14 rebounds) while Jenna Dirksen added 13.
The Polar Bears were deadly from the free throw line, converting 20 of 22 attempts at the line.
Wilmington responded with one of their better showings, converting 15 of 21 free throw attempts.
Wilmington travels to Alliance on Saturday to face Mount Union in OAC action. Wilmington won the first battle between the two teams 76-56 in early December.
SUMMARY
January 25, 2017
@Fred Raizk Arena
Ohio Northern 62 Wilmington 61 OT
ON 13.08.17.13.11…..62
WC 07.14.10.20.10…..61
(62) OHIO NORTHERN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Cambpell 1-0-0-2 Bullimore 3-0-9-15 Lauck 3-2-0-8 Cramer 0-0-0-0 Dirksen 4-1-4-13 Kirkbridge 0-0-0-0 Tesny 3-2-0-8 Weeks 2-0-3-7 Black 2-1-0-5 Raker 0-0-0-0 Wyss 0-0-0-0 Mescher 0-0-4-4. TOTALS 18-6-20-62
(61) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Harman 1-0-0-2 Moyer 1-0-2-4 Jefferson 7-2-3-19 Andracki 1-0-2-4 Campbell 7-0-5-19 Murphy 0-0-0-0 Hooper 4-2-0-10 Ritz 0-0-0-0 Smith 0-0-1-1 Tabor 0-0-2-2. TOTALS 21-4-15-61
FIELD GOALS: ON 18-63; WC 21-54 (Campbell 7-13 Hooper 4-7)
3 PT FIELD GOALS: ON 6-21; WC 4-19 (Hooper 2-4)
FREE THROWS: ON 20-22 (Bullimore 9-10); WC 15-21 (Campbell 5-6)
REBOUNDS: ON-37 (Bullimore 14); WC-43 (Jefferson 8 Campbell 8 Harman 6 Moyer 5)
ASSISTS: ON-8; WC-6
STEALS: ON-4; WC-9 (Jefferson 4 Campbell 2 Tabor 2)
BLOCKED SHOTS: ON-7 (Bullimore 5); WC-3
TURNOVERS: ON-13; WC-17
