No. 10 Women's Basketball wins Manchester (Ind.) Main View Tip-Off Tournament with 53-48 win over Manchester

By: Andrew Korba

NORTH MANCHESTER (Ind.) — The No. 10-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team picked up a 53-48 win over host Manchester (Ind.), to capture the Manchester Main View Tip-Off Tournament title on Saturday evening.

The Polar Bears are now 2-0 on the season, while the Spartans fall to 1-1.

Sophomore Brooke Espenschied paced ONU with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Sophomore Carly Thomas added nine points and sophomore Karissa Steffas finished with eight points and six rebounds.

Espenschied earned MVP honors of the tournament and Thomas was also named to the All-Tournament team.

Manchester used an 11-0 run to open up a 45-41 lead with 4:45 left in the game.

But Northern came back to score the next 10 points, capped off by a three pointer from senior Sara Kocian, to take a 51-45 lead with 53 seconds remaining.

The Spartans scored a basket on their next possession, but two free throws by Steffas put the game away.

The Polar Bears used an early 6-0 run, capped off on a three-pointer by junior Becca Saine to jump out to a 12-7 lead.

Northern would use a 7-0 run to open up a 22-13 lead with 2:46 left in the first half.

Espenschied scored four points on the run and junior Kaitlyn Theisen added three.

The Spartans would counter with a 7-2 run and ONU took a 24-20 lead into halftime.

Northern used a 10-2 run in the second half to open up its largest lead of the night at 37-26 with just over 14 minutes left to play.

The Polar Bears shot 19-of-52 (36.5 percent) from the field, while Manchester was 19-of-55 (34.5 percent).

ONU won the rebounding battle 41-35.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Tuesday, when it travels to face off against non-conference foe Kenyon at 7:30 pm.