COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team used a 19-0 first half run to take control and never looked back from there, cruising to a 63-51 victory over visiting Tiffin in Saturday's GLIAC and regular season finale from Alumni Hall.

The victory – ODU's sixth in its past seven games – lifted the Panthers to an 11-15 record overall and 7-15 in GLIAC play. Both win totals are program highs since Ohio Dominican transitioned to NCAA Division II and joined the GLIAC in 2010-11. Tiffin was eliminated from postseason contention and ends its season 11-15 (8-14 GLIAC).

The Panthers missed 10 of their first 11 shots and found themselves trailing 8-4 at the 12:44 mark before embarking on their game-changing surge. Junior guard Mykeila Mast (Millersburg, Ohio) made two free throws and freshman forward Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) scored four straight to give ODU its first lead, 10-8, and junior forward Katelyn Stuckey (Millersburg, Ohio) scored consecutive buckets to make it 14-8 with 9:37 to play.

ODU then found its outside shot, as sophomore guard Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) knocked down a triple, and classmate Micaela Liddane (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) would bury consecutive three-pointers from the right side as the Panthers extended their lead to 23-8 with 5:22 left in the half to cap the run.

The Panthers held Tiffin scoreless for nearly eight minutes in that stretch, as the Dragons missed all six of their field goal attempts and were forced into eight turnovers.

Tiffin responded with seven straight points to make it 23-15 with just under four minutes to play, but the Panthers were able to bump the lead back to 10, 31-21, at intermission after Stuckey beat the buzzer with a basket inside.

The Dragons cut the lead to 36-30 three minutes into play in the second half, but Hockenberry and freshman forward Alex Hallenbeck (St. Johns, Mich.) answered with layups to make it a 10-point game again. Later, Hockenberry and Scherpenberg would knock down triples as the Panthers would take their biggest advantage of the half, 46-32, with 12:54 left, capping a 10-2 ODU response.

Tiffin would draw within seven points on a pair of occasions, including with 5:45 left, but Scherpenberg delivered the back-breaking play of the game, drilling a three from in front of the Panther bench as the shot clock expired to put ODU back on top 55-45 with just over five minutes left.

Hockenberry and Stuckey tied for a game-high with 14 points apiece, and Stuckey also pulled down eight rebounds. Scherpenberg finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Liddane set season-bests in both points (11) and rebounds (five). Hallenbeck also had a solid effort with eight points and eight rebounds.

ODU held a 42-31 edge in rebounding and limited Tiffin to just 16 points in the paint for the contest. The Panthers tied a season-high by making seven three-pointers and also went 12-of-14 from the free throw line (85.7 percent).

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu