ASHLAND, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team pulled within one possession of taking the lead or forcing overtime against Ashland on Thursday night, but the Eagles held tough defensively in the closing minutes to hang on for the 75-70 home victory.

Summer Hale (Sr./Galena, OH) capped a 6-0 Panther run, tying the game at 70-70 with a putback with just over one minute remaining in the game. After a jumper in the lane by Ashland put them back on top 72-70, the Panthers' ensuing possessions came up empty as two missed shots and a turnover sealed ODU's fate.

Despite reaching 70 points for the second straight game, the Panthers fall to 5-14 and 3-10 in the GLIAC, while Ashland pulls within one game behind Findlay for second place in the South Division, improving to 13-6 and 8-4.

Ashland scored the first three points of the second half to grab their largest lead of the evening at 11 points. The Panthers, sparked by back-to-back triples from Katy Rasor (Jr./Grove City, OH), responded with an 11-0 run to knot the game at 38-38 with 16:01 left to play. After a Abby Glover (Jr./Centerville, OH) lay-in, Hale lined up a trey to cap the 2:45 scoring stretch. Lindsay Tenyak hit a triple to stop the run and put the Eagles back up three.

The teams exchanged baskets over the next 5:05 and with the Panthers trailing 45-44, Melissa Hersey (Sr./West Chester, OH) connected on a jumper at the top of the key to reclaim a one-point lead for ODU. A decisive 12-3 run however, capped by a Beth Mantkowski layup, put Ashland back on top for good, 57-49, with 8:14 left to play.  

After trailing 6-2 to start the game, four different Panthers connected on three-pointers to give ODU a 14-12 edge with 12:39 left in the first half. A quick 9-2 spurt in just under a three-minute span allowed the Eagles to reclaim the lead 31-26 midway through the half. Strong interior play allowed Ashland to continue the momentum and stretch the lead to their largest of the half, 33-23, with 1:24 until the break. Hersey's second trey and a free throw by Glover sent the Panthers into halftime down 35-27.

After being outscored 22-8 in the paint in the first half, the Panthers outscored the Eagles 20-12 in the second, but it was not enough as the Eagles shot 27-of-60 (45.0 percent) and 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line, including 14-of-17 in the second to preserve the win.

Glover paced the Panthers with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Hale recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 12 points and 10 boards and Meredith Fox (Jr./Springboro, OH) added 11. ODU matched its season high on three-pointers going 9-of-21 (42.9 percent), led by Rasor who finished with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc.

Mantkowski and Daiva Gerbec paced four Eagles in double figures with 16 points each. Gerbec also collected a game-high 15 rebounds. Alyssa Miller added 13, while Rachel Poorman chipped in 10.

ODU returns to Alumni Hall this Saturday, Feb. 5 for 3 p.m. South Division clash with the Lake Erie Storm.

Contact: Bryan Desch
deschb@ohiodominican.edu