Women's Basketball: Defiance (0-3 Overall) at Ohio Northern (2-0 Overall)
Tuesday, November 20, 2018, 5:30 pm - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
Tuesday's Preview: The Ohio Northern women's basketball program opens its 2018-19 regular season home schedule Tuesday night as the Polar Bears host the Defiance Yellow Jackets in non-conference play ... Tuesday's affair opens an 11-game home slate this season and a brief two-game home stint for the Orange and Black ... Northern sports a 2-0 overall record entering the midweek contest ... ONU opened the season with a perfect weekend at the Allegheny (Pa.) Tip-Off Tournament, besting Chatham (Pa.) 70-43 and host Allegheny 74-56 ... With Saturday's win over the Gators, head coach Michele Durand earned her 300th coaching victory at Northern ... Senior guard Jenna Dirksen paced the Polar Bears with 26 points and six assists in a team-high 46 minutes over the two-game span ... Meanwhile, sophomore guard Emily Brock also averaged double-figures at 10 points per game through the opening weekend while junior guard Jaclyn Yankle averaged 9.5 points per contest after scoring a team-best 17 in the victory over Allegheny ... Junior center Emily Mescher would be the team's leading rebounder during tournament play, grabbing 7.5 boards per game ... As a team, ONU shot an impressive 44.5% from the floor and 37.8% from beyond the arc over the weekend while also tallying 51 rebounds per contest ... Defiance enters the contest owning a 0-3 overall record this season ... The Yellow Jackets are coming off a tight-knit, 51-48 loss to North Park (Ill.) in the North Park Invitational this past weekend ... Senior guard/forward Lauren Rogers leads the Defiance offense with 10.3 points per game while junior guard Shelby Stamm closely trails with 9.7 points per contest ... Senior forward/center Sam Ervin stands as the team's leading rebounder, racking up over 12 boards per game ... As a team, the Yellow Jackets enter play averaging 48.7 points per contest, shooting 35.1% from the floor, and tallying 41 rebounds per contest.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #11 Alyssa Manley, Sr. (4.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2 steals)
G - #15 Abby Weeks, Jr. (9.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 6 assists)
G - #31 Jenna Dirksen, Sr. (13.0 ppg, 6 assists)
F - #33 Tori Wyss, Sr. (3.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
F - #34 Emily Mescher, Jr. (9.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg)
ONU Returning Statistical Leaders
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Dirksen | 13.0 | 1. | Mescher | 7.5 | 1. | Brock | 6 | 1. | Dirksen | 6 | 1. | Yankle | 2 | ||||
| 2. | Brock | 10.0 | 2. | Weeks | 6.0 | 2. | Dirksen | 3 | Weeks | 6 | Manley | 2 | ||||||
| 3. | Yankle | 9.5 | 3. | Wyss | 5.5 | Yankle | 3 | 3. | Manley | 5 | 3. | Wyss | 1 | |||||
| Yankle | 5.5 | Jacobs | 5 | Hale | 1 |
All-Time Series: The Polar Bears own a 21-3 all-time series advantage over the Yellow Jackets, which includes a 9-1 record at home ... Northern has won the past seven matchups dating back to 2005 ... In the 2017-18 campaign, Northern upended DC 69-49 on the road in their most recent meeting.
ONU Head Coach Michele Durand: Durand is now in her 18th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern women's basketball program and currently sports a 300-163 record, a winning percentage of .648 ... She currently stands as the all-time winningest coach in program history after surpassing former Hall of Fame coach Gayle Lauth last season.
