Season Preview: Women’s Basketball brings new-look lineup but same high expectations into 2022-23

By Wes Mayberry

| 2022-23 Women's Basketball Schedule |

ADA — After finishing with a 17-8 record and advancing to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals last season, the Ohio Northern women's basketball team is ready to return to the court to build off that success in 2022-23 under third-year head coach Mark Huelsman.

"We have high expectations every year, and this year is no different," Huelsman said. "We lost several players to graduation, but that doesn't affect how we expect to perform on the court. We have established high standards, and we're going to play to those standards."

The Polar Bears won nine of their first 11 games and finished 10-6 in OAC play in 2021-22. They were sparked by their strong play on the defensive end of the floor, finishing the season as the conference leader in points-per-game allowed (50.9), field goal percentage defense (32.2%) and 3-point percentage defense (24.8%).

"With the schedule we play and the league we play in, there a lot of good teams with a lot of good players, and good players make difficult shots. But we try to make it as difficult as we can on other teams to score and be in good position to rebound the ball," Huelsman said.

Northern returns 11 letter winners from last year's team, including two who started double-digit games in senior Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) and junior Kristen Luersman (Fort Jennings).

The other nine returning letter winners include senior Kasey Knippen (Ottoville); juniors Grace Dean (Avon/Lake) and Peyton Warnecke (Glandorf/Ottawa-Glandorf); and sophomores Abi Akamine (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna), Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore), Jada Benjamin (Parma/Valley Forge), Layla Dials (Willard), Abby Dickson (Germantown/Valley View) and Kelsey Siereveld (Liberty Township/Lakota East).

"We graduated a large senior class last year, and our returners are now going to have the opportunity they've been preparing for," Huelsman said.

The Polar Bears have also added five incoming freshmen and a new assistant coach in ONU alum Cassie Lastivka.

"We're really grateful to have Cassie back. She really cares about what we're doing and loves this university and our program," Huelsman said. "She's done a really good job of building quality relationships with our players in a short amount of time, and they've really bought in to who she is and what she does."

Here is a position-by-position preview of the 2022-23 Ohio Northern women's basketball team.

Guards

Serbin leads the Polar Bears' guard rotation for 2022-23 as an All-OAC Second Team selection from a year ago. The 2019-20 OAC Freshman of the Year is now a three-time All-OAC selection and is coming off her best season. As a junior, she played in 24 games, making 22 starts, and led the team with 9.3 points, 3.2 assists and 24 made 3-pointers to go with 5.3 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per game. She led the OAC with 68 steals on the year and ranked fourth in the conference with 76 assists.

A three-year letter winner, Serbin enters her senior season ranked eighth in program history in steals (142) and is just 12 assists shy of breaking into the top 20 on the all-time list in that category. She has played in 65 career games, including 22 starts, and has career averages of 7.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

"Brynn has been an All-Conference player for three years, and we're excited to have her back," Huelsman said. "She's a really hard worker, great teammate and an absolute competitor."

A two-year letter winner, Knippen returns to the guard rotation this season after playing in 23 games, starting three, as a junior in 2021-22. She averaged 4.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 14 minutes per game last season and made 22 3-pointers with a team-best 40.7% accuracy.

"Kasey has battled injuries the last two seasons but has had a good preseason, and I'm hopeful that she can have a great senior year," Huelsman said. "She has worked really hard to improve and has been a really good teammate."

Dickson returns to the guard rotation after averaging 17.5 minutes in 24 games as a freshman last season. She closed the year with averages of 2.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

Dials played in 22 games last season and averaged 2.2 points and 1.1 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per game.

Akamine, Benjamin and freshmen Kenzie Fuelling (Decatur, Ind./Bellmont), Sydney Little (Granger, Ind./Penn) and Mackenzie Suprano (Cutler/Waterford) round out the guard rotation. 

Forwards

Luersman headlines Northern's group of forwards for 2022-23. She played in 23 games, making 12 starts, last season and averaged 6.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game. She earned an OAC Player of the Week accolade after posting a 15-point, 15-rebound double-double against Wilmington and was the team's leading rebounder.

Through two seasons, she has played in 38 games, making 12 starts, and has averages of 6.2 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 46.6% from the floor.

"Kristen is a really hard worker and a great teammate, and I'm excited to see what she can do with an expanded role this year," Huelsman said.

Warnecke, Siereveld and freshmen Noelle Ruane (St. Mary's) and Kaylynn Fetters (Troy/Miami East) provide depth at the forward spot.

Centers

The Polar Bears welcome back Allen and Dean to the center position for 2022-23.

"They both had good summers and have worked really hard through the fall and had a good preseason," Huelsman said. "We're looking forward to seeing what they can do with their opportunities this year."

Allen played in all 25 games as a reserve last season, averaging 4.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game.

Dean played in 12 games off the bench last season, averaging 1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 5.8 minutes per game.

Schedule

The Polar Bears open their 2022-23 schedule with a two-game set against La Roche (Pa.) and Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) in the Washington & Jefferson Tournament on Nov. 11-12. They will also compete in the Bluffton Tournament on Dec. 29-30 against Denison and Bethany (W.Va.).

Northern's home opener is Nov. 22 against Ohio Wesleyan after they travel to play Anderson (Ind.) on Nov. 16. ONU's other non-conference game is at No. 8 Trine (Ind.) on Nov. 26.

The Polar Bears open OAC play on Dec. 3 at home against No. 19 Marietta. Other top OAC teams include No. 12 Baldwin Wallace and John Carroll, which received votes in the preseason D3hoops.com poll.

"We play a really difficult schedule this year, but that's what we've always done because you have to play good teams to get better," Huelsman said. "Our non-conference schedule this season includes seven really difficult games, but you have to play good teams in the non-conference schedule to be ready to compete in the OAC, which is a really talented, well-coached league."

The 2023 OAC Tournament is scheduled for Feb. 21-25.