Women's Basketball: OAC Tournament Semifinals - Ohio Northern (14-12 Overall, 7-11 OAC) at Marietta (18-8 Overall, 12-6 OAC)

Thursday, February 21, 2019, 7 p.m. - Ban Johnson Arena, Marietta, Ohio

Thursday's Game Notes: Following a first-round victory against second-seeded Baldwin Wallace, the seventh-seeded Ohio Northern women's basketball program continues its Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament title pursuit Thursday when they square off with third-seeded Marietta in the OAC Tournament Semifinals ... Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside Ban Johnson Arena in Marietta ... The Polar Bears will be making their 10th consecutive appearance in the tournament's semifinal round ... Northern will enter the affair sporting a 14-12 overall record this season ... ONU earned its spot in the second round after defeating Baldwin Wallace 70-53 on Tuesday evening in Ursprung Gymnasium ... Senior guard Jenna Dirksen led the Ohio Northern offense with 22 points on eight-for-twelve shooting in the upset victory ... She now owns 1,071 career points, which ranks 12th all-time in program history ... Meanwhile, junior center Emily Mescher added 12 points, six rebounds, and a team-high three assists ... Senior Alyssa Manley and junior Abby Weeks rounded out the double-figure scorers, tallying 11 points each on Tuesday night ... Senior forward Tori Wyss led ONU with seven rebounds in the contest ... As a team, the Polar Bears shot an impressive 54.2% from the floor and out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 35-28 ... Through 26 games, Dirksen remains the team's top scorer and resides fifth in the OAC with 14.3 points per outing ... She also leads the team with 57 assists and 32 steals ... Dirksen's 80.4% free throw clip ranks fourth-best among the conference ... She and sophomore guard Emily Brock lead the team with 46 made three-pointers while also ranking third (41.1%) and fifth (40.7%), respectively, among the OAC in three-point field goal percentage ... Mescher is the program's top rebounder with 6.3 boards per game and ranks second in scoring with 8.1 points per game ... Marietta enters the semifinal matchup owning an 18-8 overall record ... The Pioneers rolled past Mount Union 74-55 Tuesday evening in the OAC Tournament Quarterfinals ... Senior forward Corrie Burkhardt tops the team with 14.0 points per game, a 7.7 rebounding average, and 53 steals this season ... Senior guard Shay Lett and junior forward Alexis Enochs are also averaging double-figure scoring, tallying 13.7 and 13.0 points per contest, respectively.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (5.6 ppg, 56 assists)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (7.7 ppg, 38 assists, 22 steals)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (14.3 ppg, 57 assists, 32 steals)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (5.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 21 steals)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (8.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg)

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern currently leads the all-time series 56-18 over the Pioneers ... The two programs have met in the OAC Tournament on four occasions and split the matchups 2-2 ... ONU won the season's first meeting 64-50 at home before falling 63-59 on February 2 at Marietta.

ONU Head Coach Michele Durand: Durand is currently in her 18th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern women's basketball program ... She is the all-time winningest coach in school history with a 312-175 record, a winning percentage of .641.