UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team saw an 11-point second half lead slip away as the Panthers fell 69-64 to Saginaw Valley in the team's GLIAC opener.

ODU fell to 3-2 (0-1 GLIAC), while the Cardinals improved to 3-1 (1-0).

Junior guard Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) poured in a career-high 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting and freshman forward Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) added 12 for the Panthers. ODU also held the Cardinals, who came into the game leading the conference in field goal percentage at 50.3 percent, to just 21-of-62 (33.9 percent) from the field.

But SVSU answered the Panthers' early second half run with a 16-4 run of its own, and ODU could not complete the comeback in the waning moments.

Rittinger scored eight points in the early going of the second half as the Panthers stretched a 34-30 halftime lead to 43-32 with 17:59 left.  The Cardinals, though, answered with their run, holding ODU to just four points in a nearly 10-minute stretch to take a 49-47 lead.

SVSU then led by as much as six, 61-55, with 3:30 left, before ODU rallied. A layup by Hockenberry and a three-pointer by sophomore Rachael Torey (Sterling Heights, Mich.) made it 61-60 with 2:36 left, but ODU could not get the stops it needed on the defensive end.

The Panthers cut their deficit to one on two more occasions, including with 1:22 left on a pair of Hockenberry free throws, but two late turnovers stopped the comeback.

The Panthers continue GLIAC play at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wayne State.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu