Women's Basketball improves to 6-0 in OAC play with 57-47 win over Muskingum

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team improved to 6-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play after defeating Muskingum 57-47 on Saturday afternoon.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (8-4 overall, 6-0 OAC), Muskingum (6-7 overall, 1-5 OAC)
• Venue: ONU Sports Center - Ada, Ohio

The Game

• Fifth-year senior All-American Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) led the Polar Bears with 12 points to go with five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
• Freshman Chloee Glenn (Glandorf/Ottawa-Glandorf) tallied 11 points off the bench for ONU.
• The Polar Bears also got eight points from junior Brooke Allen (Woodville/Woodmore), seven from junior Abi Akamine (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna) and six from junior Layla Dials (Willard).
• The Fighting Muskies were led by Caitlyn DeMassimo with 22 points and Claudia Harrington with 14 points. That duo combined to make eight 3-pointers on 11 attempts.
• Ohio Northern opened the game with an 8-0 scoring run, getting four points each from Serbin and Allen, and led 16-3 with 2:04 left in the period.
• ONU led 20-5 at the end of the first quarter and 32-21 at halftime.
• A pair of free throws from sophomore Mackenzie Suprano (Cutler/Waterford) capped the third-quarter scoring to send ONU into the fourth up 46-32 en route to the victory.
• Ohio Northern made 24-of-58 field goals for 41.4% and was 2-of-18 from beyond the arc for 11.1%, while Muskingum was 17-of-44 from the floor for 38.6% and made 11-of-28 3-pointers for 39.3%.
• ONU made 7-of-8 free throws for 87.5%, and MU was 2-of-4 from the line for 50%.
• The Polar Bears out-rebounded the Muskies by a 34-27 margin and scored 23 points off of 18 Muskingum turnovers.
• Northern finished with a 34-10 edge in points in the paint.

Notables

• ONU is off to a 6-0 start in OAC play for the second straight season. The Polar Bears started 9-0 in OAC play and won the conference's regular season and tournament titles in 2022-23.
• Northern is now 51-43 all-time against Muskingum, including a 28-14 mark in Ada.
• Sophomore Noelle Ruane (St. Marys) tied her single-game career-high with nine rebounds in Saturday's game. She also had nine against La Verne (Calif.) on Dec. 29.
• Serbin is ONU's all-time leader in career steals with 255 and assists with 335.
• Serbin ranks 13th on ONU's all-time career scoring list with 1,075 points. She ranks fourth all-time with 155 made 3-pointers in her career, is 13th all-time in made free throws with 190, is 15th all-time in rebounds with 507 and 18th all-time with 365 made field goals.
• Serbin is just the second ONU women's basketball player to tally 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists in her career, joining Cenzie Yoder ('11-'14).
• Fourth-year head coach Mark Huelsman is now 57-25 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .695.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday at OAC foe Baldwin Wallace at 7 p.m. The teams are tied atop the conference standings with matching 6-0 records.