Coach Bellman Interview

COLUMBUS, Ohio -Trailing 28-6 midway through the first half on Thursday evening, Ohio Dominican's women's basketball appeared destined for its first loss of the season. However, an astonishing 41-8 surge lifted the Panthers past Grand Valley State (Mich.) 76-58 in front of a raucous crowd in Alumni Hall.

The 22-point deficit overcome was just five points shy of matching the NCAA record for largest margin overcome for victory, achieved by conference foe Northwood (Mich.) against Northern Michigan on Jan. 29, 2011.

With the 40-point turnaround, ODU stayed perfect at 5-0 and moved to 1-0 in GLIAC play, while the Lakers remained winless on the road, falling to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference. 

Grand Valley State jumped out to a 16-4 advantage in the first 5:40, turning the Panthers over on their first three possessions and stretched it to the 22-point advantage at the 10:24 mark.  After missing 10 of its first 13 shot attempts, ODU began the game-changing surge, knocking down eight of its next 10 as part of a 19-0 run that saw five Panthers score over the ensuing 5:47, closing the deficit to 28-25. 

With all the momentum squarely on its shoulders, the Panthers wasted little time taking their first lead of the evening as the ODU seniors combined for 13 points of a 16-0, 3:13 spurt that flipped the 36-31 halftime deficit  into an 11-point advantage with freshman Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, OH) crowning the turnaround with a three-pointer at the 16:47 mark.

The Lakers got as close as 51-46 with 13:07 left to play, but the Panthers sustained a 10-point margin for much of the remainder of the contest, and eventually closed on a 10-2 run over the last 5:05 for the game's final margin. The 45 second-half points are a new season-high as ODU went 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) from the floor, 4-of-5 on threes and 15-of-17 (88.2 percent) at the free throw line and held GVSU to just 32.1 percent (9-of-28) and 0-of-9 from behind the arc.

Senior Abby Glover (Centerville, OH) led the Panthers' season-high 48.1 percent (25-of-52) shooting effort, going 8-of-10 with a couple of free throws for 18 points and collected 10 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double. Sophomore Katelyn Stuckey (Millersburg, OH) surpassed her career-high set last Friday at NYIT with 17 points, finishing 8-of-9 at the stripe, while Hockenberry added a career-best 16 points on a 7-of-8 effort at the line as ODU finished with a season-best 20-of-25 (80.0 percent) on free throws. Senior Meredith Fox (Springboro, OH) also realized a new career mark with eight assists.

ODU has a quick turnaround as Ferris State (Mich.) visits for a 1 p.m. bout this Saturday in the Panther's final home game of the 2011 calendar year.

Contact: Bryan Desch
deschb@ohiodominican.edu