Four score in double-figures as No. 15 Women's Basketball defeats Heidelberg 90-44
By Caleb Scott
ADA — The No. 15-ranked Ohio Northern women's basketball team saw four athletes score in double-figures as the Polar Bears defeated Heidelberg 90-44 at the ONU Sports Center on Wednesday evening.
The Polar Bears improve to 20-2 overall, and 14-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Student Princes fall to 4-18, 2-13.
With the victory, Northern clinched one of the top-2 seeds in the OAC Tournament and will host a quarterfinal matchup at the ONU Sports Center on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Senior Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) led the way with a game-best 14 points, while senior Courtney Cramer (Arcadia) went 4-of-5 from 3-point range and scored 12 points for ONU.
Junior Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local) added 11 points and freshman Sydney Ward (Columbus/Upper Arlington) tied a career-high with 10 points, shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor.
Mescher also had a game-high seven rebounds.
Cramer came out of the gate firing as she hit back-to-back-back 3-pointers to give ONU a quick 9-0 lead and force an HU timeout with just over two minutes gone in the first quarter.
After Heidelberg responded with an 8-3 run to cut the deficit to 11-8, Northern closed the quarter by scoring 10 of the next 13 points to take a 21-11 lead into the second quarter.
Northern took control of the game in the second quarter as it outscored the Student Princes 23-6 to take a commanding 44-17 lead into the intermission.
In the third quarter, the ONU defense locked in and stifled the Heidelberg offense, allowing only seven points in the the quarter and scoring 27 points to take a 71-25 lead into the final period of play.
ONU saw its largest lead of the evening at the 1:02 mark of the fourth quarter following a free throw from Ward to push the lead 90-38.
Northern shot 35-of-61 (57.4 percent) from the field, including 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from 3-point range, while the Student Princes were 13-of-53 (24.5 percent) from the field, and 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from the 3-point line.
ONU shutout HU 17-0 in second chance points and won the rebounding battle by a 45-26 margin.
The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday afternoon as they travel to John Carroll for a 3 pm tipoff.
