By Tim Glon
ADA — Senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) led four players in double figures with a game-high 19 points, as the No. 16-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in school history with a 71-60 victory over Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament on Saturday night at the ONU Sports Center.
"Credit to Oshkosh. They play really well together and are very balanced offensively, and they make it hard on you defensively. They didn't shoot it as well as they expected to tonight, and that really helped us," ONU head coach Mark Huelsman said. "I thought our players did a really good job of playing well in the second half. They made a couple runs at us, and I thought we did a really good job of not panicking and closing the game really well."
The Polar Bears (25-4 overall) advance to the NCAA III Tournament Sectionals next weekend and will play No. 2-ranked Transylvania (Ky.) on Friday night.
The site of the game will be announced Sunday.
Serbin added nine assists and seven rebounds to her stat line.
Sophomore Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore) scored 16 points, junior Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings) had her 10th double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds and sophomore Abi Akamine (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna) chipped in 14 points for ONU.
Huelsman credited Akamine for her two-way play on Saturday night.
"Abi was unbelievable at both ends of the floor tonight," Huelsman said. "Her offensive numbers show up in the box score, but there aren't numbers for her effort on the defensive end."
The Titans ends their season at 20-9.
Oshkosh was led by Kayce Vaile with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Saturday's game was tied at 17 at the end of the first quarter.
Northern opened the second period on a 16-6 run highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Serbin and a triple from Luersman and capped by a layup from sophomore Jada Benjamin (Parma/Valley Forge) for a 33-23 edge with 1:59 left in the half.
Serbin drained another 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining to put ONU up 37-25, but the Titans closed the half with three free throws from Jenna Jorgensen to cut the halftime deficit to nine, 37-28.
A Serbin triple with 1:46 remaining in the third quarter gave the Polar Bears a 50-37 edge before Oshkosh's Kate Huml made a 3-pointer to bring the Titans back within 10, 52-42, going into the fourth period.
Back-to-back baskets from Akamine, a 2-point jumper and a 3-pointer, extended the ONU lead to 15, 67-52, with 2:39 left in the game en route to the 11-point victory.
Ohio Northern made 24-of-56 field goals for 42.9% and was 10-of-25 from beyond the arc for 40%, while Oshkosh was 16-of-53 from the floor for 30.2% and made 8-of-32 3-pointers for 25%.
ONU hade 13-of-18 free throws for 72.2% and UWO was 20-of-21 from the line for 95.2%.
The Polar Bears out-rebounded the Titans 38-33.