COLUMBUS, Ohio - Adorned in pink warm-ups, headbands and shoelaces in honor of breast cancer awareness and the GLIAC's Pink Wave Day, Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team had to sweat a couple of anxious moments in the closing seconds against Findlay in Alumni Hall on Saturday afternoon, but the Panthers held tough defensively on the Oilers' final possession to secure the 62-60 upset.

The Panthers matched their largest lead of the evening with 16 ticks remaining in the game as Melissa Hersey (Sr./West Chester, OH) connected on a pair of free throws for a 62-55 advantage. On the ensuing possession, Kayla Brown hit two free throws with 12 seconds left to pull the Oilers within five. After a foul, Hersey missed on the front end of a one-and-one situation allowing Findlay to capitalize with a three-pointer by Clare Aubry and cut the deficit to 62-60. ODU turned the ball over on the ensuing in-bounds leaving 3.8 seconds on the clock, but after a timeout, the Oilers failed to get a shot off in time as the Panthers hung on for their first win of the month.

ODU improves to 6-16 overall and 4-12 in the GLIAC, snapping a 10-game skid against Findlay, while the Oilers, after dropping three of their last four, fall to 15-7 and into a tie for the GLIAC South Division lead with Ashland at 10-5.

Meredith Fox (Jr./Springboro, OH) jumpstarted the ODU offense, scoring the first seven points of the game for the Panthers on 3-of-3 shooting. ODU hit on four-of their first five shot attempts and grabbed an early 9-3 lead just 3:21 into the game on an Abby Glover (Jr./Centerville, OH) lay-in. The Panthers continued to hold the advantage until 3:59 remaining in the first half when Findlay, thanks to a 9-2 spurt, took their first lead, 23-22, since leading 3-2 at the 19:14 mark. The score continued to go back-and-forth over the final 3:48 as the teams combined for two ties and seven lead changes, including a jumper by Kaleigh Kenny as time expired to knot the halftime score at 32-32.

The Oilers scored the first basket of the second half and hit a free throw at the 19:00 mark for their largest lead of the game, 35-32, but the Panthers behind three Glover layups and a Hersey triple, rattled off nine of the game's next 11 points to go back up 38-37 with 16:26 to play. Findlay knotted the score at 41-41, but would not lead again as ODU countered each Oilers' rally with a run of their own, growing the lead to seven points each time; 51-44 with 9:09 left and again at 62-55 with 16 seconds remaining.

The Panthers, led by Glover's 7-of-12 shooting performance, finished with the second most field goals and third best field goal percentage of the season, hitting 25-of-57 for 43.9 percent. Glover and Fox each finished with 14 points to pace the Panthers, while Glover also added 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. Hersey, ODU's new all-time assist leader, finished with a game-high eight assists and seven points.

Aubry led Findlay with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Kayla Brown added 14, going 10-of-10 at the charity stripe and Kenny chipped in with a 10 and 10 double-double. The Oilers finished with a 19-4 advantage at the free throw line, hitting 19-of-22 (86.4 percent) and a plus-12 rebounding margin.

The Panthers continue their homestand, stepping out of conference next Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m., as former AMC foe Urbana visits Alumni Hall.

Contact: Bryan Desch
deschb@ohiodominican.edu