COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team withstood a late second half rally by Saginaw Valley State to secure a 72-61 home win and snap a three-game losing streak Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.

The victory bumps ODU to 5-13 and 3-9 in the GLIAC, while Saginaw Valley drops to 6-12 and 4-8 in the conference.

After a 17-4 run by SVSU brought the Cardinals within 57-56 with 4:17 left to play in the game, Tracy Snider (Jr./Lancaster, OH) nailed the shot of the evening, a three-pointer from the top of the key to keep the Panthers ahead 60-56 at the 4:01 mark. After two free throws by Aysha Boston cut ODU's lead to two, Summer Hale (Sr./Galena, OH) connected on an old-fashioned three-point play pushing ODU's lead to 63-58. Two more free throws by Hale and 7-of-8 free throw shooting by four different Panthers over the final 2:26 preserved the wire-to-wire win.

Katy Rasor (Jr./Grove City, OH) got the scoring started for the Panthers nailing four three-pointers in the first 3:35 of the first half to give ODU the early lead, 14-6. Leading 26-16, back-to-back baskets by Meredith Fox (Jr./Springboro, OH) and a triple from Melissa Hersey (Sr./West Chester, OH) gave the Panthers their largest lead of the game 33-16 with 3:46 remaining until halftime. A three-point play by Jasmine Kennedy and trey from Marah Kyle pulled the Cardinals back within 11, but behind 15-of-32 (46.9 percent) shooting, ODU entered the break with its largest halftime lead of the year, 35-24.

Saginaw Valley got within nine points on four separate occasions over the first 8:20 of the second half before their 17-4 run put them within one. Despite hitting eight less shots on 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) in the second, the Panthers kept the Cardinals grounded with the second-best free throw shooting performance of the season, connecting on 19-of-23 (82.6 percent) from the stripe.

ODU shot over 40 percent for just the first time in the last eight games, hitting 22-of-53 (41.5 percent) overall. The Panthers held SVSU to 32.8 percent (20-of-61) shooting, including 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from behind the arc.

The 72 points and nine three-pointers is the most by the Panthers this year. Leading the way was Fox with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Rasor finished with 12 after matching her season-high of four triples, while Snider reached double figures off the bench for the second straight game with 12. Hale recorded her third double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. After assisting on all four of Rasor's treys, Hersey finished with eight assists, just one off her season high, and eight points.

Kyle paced the Cardinals with 14 points, while Cheritee Green added 11. Brittany Burkhardt finished with nine points and a game-high 14 boards.

ODU begins next month with a trip to Ashland on Thursday, Feb. 3 for a 7:30 p.m. South Division clash with the Eagles.

Contact: Bryan Desch
deschb@ohiodominican.edu