COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team couldn't overcome a poor shooting first half as the Panthers fell 68-55 to visiting Grand Valley State Tuesday in GLIAC play in Alumni Hall.

The Panthers made just 4-of-25 field goals in the first half to fall behind 32-17 at the break. Grand Valley would push its advantage to as much as 23 on a pair of occasions before the Panthers rallied in the second half.

Junior Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) completed a four-point play to trim the deficit to 48-35 with 9:42 left, and a pair of free throws by sophomore Melissa Scherpenberg  (Cincinnati, Ohio) and a layup by junior Micaela Liddane (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) brought the Panthers to within eight at 55-47 with 5:40 remaining.

But that would be as close as ODU would get, as the Lakers scored the next seven points to pull away with the victory.

The Panthers shot 44.8 percent (13-of-29) from the field in the second half, but committed 21 turnovers overall, which Grand Valley turned in to 23 points.

Hockenberry led ODU in scoring with 14 points, while Scherpenberg had eight points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Kayla Cook (Columbus, Ohio) came off the bench to score nine points as well.

The Panthers return to action on Thursday, Jan. 2 at Michigan Tech.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu