Women’s Basketball: #16 Ohio Northern (25-4 Overall) at NCAA III Tournament Sectionals

Friday-Saturday, March 10-11, 2023 - Beck Center, Lexington, Ky.

| Ohio Northern NCAA III Tournament site | Transylvania Sectional Tournament site |

Weekend Preview: Ohio Northern is playing in the sectional rounds of the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament and will face host No. 2 Transylvania (Ky.) in the Sweet 16 on Friday at 7 p.m. … No. 14 Trine (Ind.) will face No. 6 New York University in the other third-round game at Transylvania, beginning at 4:30 p.m. … The winners of those games will play in the sectional finals at Transylvania on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. for a spot in the national semifinals … This marks the Polar Bears' 10th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth appearance in the Sweet 16 … Northern is seeking its third all-time Elite Eight appearance … ONU won the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament title for the fifth time in program history and was the OAC Regular Season champion for the eighth time in program history this season … Northern is ranked No. 16 nationally in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and No. 13 in the WBCA Top 25 Poll … Northern is coming off hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament last Friday and Saturday … The Polar Bears defeated No. 25 Berea (Ky.) 54-43 in the opening round and Wisconsin-Oshkosh 71-60 in the second round … Senior Brynn Serbin and sophomore Brooke Allen led ONU against Berea with 16 and 15 points, respectively … Serbin added 19 points against UWO, and junior Kristen Luersman tallied her 10th double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds … Allen scored 16 points, and sophomore Abi Akamine added 14 points to give ONU four players in double figures for the game … Serbin was named the OAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year as a First Team All-OAC selection … Luersman joined Serbin on the All-OAC First Team, and Allen was a Second Team selection … ONU head coach Mark Huelsman was named the OAC Coach of the Year … Through 29 games, Serbin (14.7 points per game), Allen (11.8) and Luersman (11.0) lead ONU in scoring … Luersman leads the team in rebounding with 9.0 per game, and Serbin is second with 6.3 per game … Serbin has 132 assists and 80 steals, both of which are program records for a single season … Serbin is the program's all-time leader in career steals with 222, and she ranks third all-time in career assists (293) and fifth all-time in 3-pointers made (131) … Serbin's 426 points this season rank fifth all-time at ONU for a single season … Luersman's 262 rebounds this season are a program record for a single season … Serbin has made a team-best 58 3-pointers this season and is shooting 35.4% from beyond the arc … Transylvania (29-0 overall) won the HCAC Tournament and is ranked No. 2 nationally in both the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and the WBCA Top 25 Poll … The Pioneers defeated Rhodes (Tenn.) 58-45 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and defeated Millikin (Ill.) 71-59 in the second round … TU is led in scoring by Madison Kellione (14.9 points per game), Kennedi Stacy (14.0), Dasia Thornton (11.9) and Laken Ball (10.3) … Thornton is averaging a team-best 9.5 rebounds per game … Kellione has a team-high 134 assists … Stacy leads the team in steals with 73 and has made a team-best 54 3-pointers … Ball has a team-high 46 blocks … Trine (23-6 overall) is ranked No. 14 in the D3hoops.com poll and No. 22 in the WBCA poll … The Thunder earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament after falling to No. 7 Hope (Mich.) in the MIAA Tournament finals and are in the third round of the NCAAs for the second straight season … TU defeated Washington (Mo.) 79-69 and Loras (Iowa) 60-54 in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament … The Thunder are led in scoring by Sidney Wagner (14.9 points per game), Makayla Ardis (12.5) and Sam Underhill (10.7) … Underhill leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game … New York U. (24-2 overall) is ranked No. 6 in the D3hoops.com poll and No. 7 in the WBCA poll … The Violets won the UAA Tournament championship … NYU defeated Greensboro (N.C.) 71-54 and No. 11 Messiah (Pa.) 62-41 in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament … The Violets are led in scoring by Natalie Bruns (15.1 points per game), Belle Pellecchia (13.3) and Jenny Walker (12.8) … Bruns leads the team in rebounding with 8.3 per game.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Transylvania (Ky.) by a 3-1 margin … The teams last played in 2014 when TU came away with a 79-71 victory … The all-time series between ONU and Trine (Ind.) is tied 3-3 after ONU won 53-50 at Trine earlier this season … ONU and New York U. have never met.

Head Coach Mark Huelsman: Huelsman is in his third season at ONU and has an overall record of 49-20, a winning percentage of .710.