Polar Bears Slip Past The Berg In Overtime, 60-56

Ohio Northern University opened up an extra period of action on a 9-0 run to lead the way to a 60-56 overtime victory over the Heidelberg College women’s basketball team tonight in Ohio Athletic Conference action. The win improves the Polar Bears to 12-6 overall and 7-4 in the OAC, while the Berg falls to 10-8 overall and 3-8 in league play.

The Berg held a 41-47 advantage with 4:26 to play in regulation, but back-to-back scores by the Polar Bears knotted the game at 41-41 with just under three minutes to play. Heidelberg and ONU traded baskets before ONU’s Danielle Andreasen stole the ball and scored to put Ohio Northern up by two, 45-43, with 1:32 on the clock. The game remained scoreless until Heidelberg’s Kyle Davison (Ravenna, Ohio / Hudson) grabbed a Jessica Jennette (Elgin, Ohio / LaRue) miss and laid it in with 12 seconds on the clock to force overtime.

A Maureen Hunter (Toledo, Ohio / Notre Dame) free throw put a halt to the Polar Bears 9-0 run to open the extra period with 2:26 on the clock. Heidelberg cut its deficit to five on two occasions, but that would be as close as the Berg would get until a trey from Amanda Campbell (Pataskala, Ohio / Watkins) as time expired made the final margin four, 60-56.

Heidelberg and Ohio Northern each jumped on the scoreboard in the first minute of action, but both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net through the final 19 minutes of the first half. Heidelberg held an 8-7 advantage following a Stacey Richard (Galloway, Ohio / Central Crossing) lay up with 13:07 on the clock, but ONU's Jenny Markle responded with a jumper that started an 11-2 run to put the Polar Bears up by six, 16-10. Over the final five minutes of the opening half Heidelberg and Ohio Northern battled back and forth to a 19-19 tie at the intermission.

Skolnicki led the way for the Berg with a game-high 16 points, while Campbell tallied nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.

For Ohio Northern, Megan Cevasco led four in double figures with 13 points, to go along with nine rebounds.

The Berg returns to action at Mount Union Jan. 27. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 p.m.