ALLIANCE, Ohio -- Mount Union's nationally ranked women's basketball team opened the second half on a 25-5 surge to blow the game open on their way to an 86-57 rout of Heidelberg in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup Saturday at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.

The Purple Raiders, ranked No. 17 in the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches Poll and No. 19 in the d3hoops.com Top 25, already clinched the OAC regular season title earlier in the week and finished the season with a 22-3 overall record (15-3 OAC).

Heidelberg went winless in the OAC (0-18) for the season, finished on a 15-game skid and 1-24 overall record.

The Berg held a 6-5 lead three minutes into the game but a three-pointer by Katie Crider (Brunswick/Brunswick) started a 14-4 run to give Mount Union a 19-10 lead with 14 minutes to play in the half.

Heidelberg stayed within striking distance the rest of the half as a pair of Amanda Rose (Uniontown/Green) free throws gave Mount Union a 45-37 lead at the half.

Mount Union point guard Rosa LaMattina (Westlake/Westlake) started the second half with a steal and layup that sparked the decisive run.  Crider had a pair of three pointers during the run and a Brittany Kilgore (Northfield/Nordonia) layup finished the surge and left the score 70-42 with 10:20 left in the game.

LaMattina finished with 19 points, Rose chipped in 14, Crider had four-three pointers and 13 points while Kilgore finished with 10 to lead 13 different Raiders into the scoring column.

Kathleen Phillips had a game-high 20 points to lead Heidelberg.

Mount Union is the top seed in next week's OAC Tournament and will host No. 8 seed Otterbein Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 pm at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.

2011 OAC Women's Basketball Tournament

Tuesday, February 22
(8) Otterbein at (1) Mount Union, 7:30 pm
(7) John Carroll at (2) Baldwin-Wallace, 7:30 pm
(6) Muskingum at (3) Ohio Northern, 6 pm
(5) Capital at (4) Wilmington, 7:30 pm

Thursday, February 24
(8) Otterbein/(1) Mount Union winner vs. (5) Capital/(4) Wilmington winner, 7:30 pm (at highest remaning seed in matchup)
(7) John Carroll/(2) Baldwin-Wallace winner vs. (6) Muskingum/(3) Ohio Northern winner, 7:30 pm (at highest remaining seed in matchup)

Saturday, February 26
Championship game, 3 pm at highest remaining seed