ADA — Senior Kara Dysert posted her third double-double of the year as the Ohio Northern women's basketball team defeated Wilmington 72-60 in an Ohio Athletic Conference game at the ONU Sports Center on Wednesday night.
Dysert scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to help ONU improve to 12-3 overall (6-2 OAC), while Wilmington falls to 9-6 overall (4-4 OAC).
The Polar Bears controlled the tempo of the game, never allowing Wilmington to lead. A 9-2 ONU run to start the game was never relented, as Northern took a 38-30 lead into the half.
The Quakers were able to cut the lead to 42-38 around six minutes into the second period. But ONU responded by dominating the paint throughout an 11-0 run as post players Dysert and sophomore Cenzie Yoder scored six and five points during the run, respectively, to push the margin to a game-high 15 points, 53-38.
Wilmington received a three-pointer from Emily Zimmerman to cut the deficit to 59-50 with 4:20 to play, but the Polar Bears were able to limit the Wilmington runs, as the Quakers never cut the margin to less than nine points.
The Polar Bears were solid at the charity stripe down the stretch, shooting 10-for-12 from the line in the last two minutes of the game to seal the 72-60 win.
For ONU, Yoder (13 points), junior Morgan Dumbaugh (11 points) and senior Megan Porter (10 points) also scored in double figures.
After being out-rebounded 18-15 in the first half, ONU grabbed 25 rebounds to Wilmington's 14 to win the rebounding battle, 40-32.
The Polar Bears shot the ball well all night, going 27-for-52 from the field (51.9 percent) and 5-for-11 (45.5 percent) from three-point range, compared to 21-for-64 (32.8 percent) and 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) for the Quakers.
"Tonight was a good rebound win after a tough loss to Mount Union," head coach Michele Durand said. "Wilmington is a good team but we shot the ball well and played solid defense."
The Polar Bears will be back in action on Saturday as they host Baldwin-Wallace at 2 p.m. as part of a doubleheader, with the men's team also hosting B-W at 4 p.m.