By: Jay Garneau
TIFFIN — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team snuck out an 88-82 double-overtime win over Ohio Athletic Conference opponent Heidelberg at the Seiberling Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
Able to avoid the upset, ONU improves to 19-3 overall and 13-2 in the OAC, while the Student Princes fall to 4-18 overall and 1-14 in league play.
Sophomore Cenzie Yoder led ONU with 27 points on 11-for-18 shooting, also recording nine rebounds and four assists.
Senior Kara Dysert added 16 points and nine rebounds, while junior Joanna Snyder finished with 12 points and nine boards.
Junior Katie Mengos also finished in double figures, tallying 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals.
ONU had trouble containing Heidelberg's Kathleen Phillips and Megan Miller all night, as the pair combined for 54 points on 19-for-38 shooting and 11 rebounds.
Trailing by six with 75 seconds left in regulation, Yoder converted a steal into a fast break layup, cutting the deficit to 64-60.
After an ONU timeout, Heidelberg was unable to inbound the pass, turning the ball over.
Junior Morgan Dumbaugh sank a three from a Katie Mengos pass, making it a 64-63 game with 59 seconds remaining.
Both teams were unable to convert the front end of one-and-one free throw situations, but Junior Joanna Snyder grabbed an offensive rebound on ONU's front end. She missed a shot, and Heidelberg was again unable to connect on a free throw, as senior Kara Dysert grabbed a rebound and ONU called a time out with 26 seconds left in regulation.
Yoder got the ball in the paint and connected on a jumper to give ONU a 65-64 lead with 17 seconds left.
Heidelberg missed two shots in the final six seconds, but a pair of offensive rebounds led to a foul against Northern. Heidelberg's Miller sank the first, but missed the second free throw that would have won the game, sending it into overtime.
After Phillips scored four straight points to give the Student Princes a 75-72 lead with 1:17 left in overtime, Dumbaugh hit a layup to cut the lead to 75-74 with 54 seconds left.
Another Heidelberg turnover led to a jumper by Snyder, giving ONU the one-point lead with 27 seconds to play.
Mengos swiped the ball away and was immediately fouled, sinking both free throws to push the lead to 78-75 with less than 10 seconds to play.
Miller took the ball up the court and sank a half-court shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 78-all and send it to a second overtime.
Yoder scored four straight points to give Ohio Northern an 84-80 lead with 2:21 left.
Heidelberg scored on a layup, but Mengos sank four straight free throws and Heidelberg missed its last three shots, closing out the 88-82 ONU win.
ONU dominated the rebounding battle, pulling down 62 boards compared to 38 for Heidelberg.
The Polar Bears struggled to shoot though, going 31-for-80 (38.8 percent) from the field and 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) from beyond the arc, compared to 29-for-73 (39.7 percent) and 12-for-25 (48.0 percent) for the Berg.
Ohio Northern jumped out to a quick 15-4 lead, but Heidelberg answered back with a 9-0 run to make it a 15-13 ONU lead at the 13:36 mark.
The game went back-and-forth the remainder of the half, with four lead changes and a tie, but a layup from junior Joanna Snyder gave Northern a 35-31 lead into the break.
Heidelberg extended its lead to as many as eight points midway through the second half, but a 10-0 run gave ONU a 56-53 advantage at the 6:53 mark.
A quick 11-2 streak for the Student Princes gave them the 64-58 lead with 2:25 to play, setting the stage for the late-game drama.
This game marked the team's first double-overtime contest since a 77-75 loss to Wilmington nearly three years ago, on Feb. 11, 2009.
Ohio Northern will bring its eight-game winning streak back to Ada, as the team gets set for a showdown with OAC-leading and seventh-ranked Mount Union.
The Polar Bears haven't lost since they last played the Purple Raiders in early January, but will get a second chance at Mount Union on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the ONU Sports Center.