HOUGHTON, Mich. – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team battled with first-place Michigan Tech late into the second half before falling 65-53 on Thursday in GLIAC play from the SDC Gym.

The Panthers trailed by just three with less than seven minutes to play, but the Huskies closed the game on a 14-5 run to pull away with the win.

With the setback, the Panthers dropped to 4-5 (1-4 GLIAC), while Michigan Tech, which is also receiving votes in the Top 25 poll, improved to 7-2 (5-0 GLIAC).

ODU had a season-high in rebounds with 49 and were plus-seven on the glass. The Panthers also committed a season-low 14 turnovers, but managed to shoot just 28.4 percent (19-of-67) from the field.

Junior guard Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) scored 12 points to go along with five rebounds, while sophomore forward Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) chipped in with eight points and a season-high 14 rebounds.

The Panthers fell behind by margins of 15-7 and 19-12 early in the first half, but fought back to take a 23-21 lead. Freshman forward Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) made a short jumper, while sophomore guard Rachael Torey (Sterling Heights, Mich.) finished off a three-point play to bring ODU to within 19-17.

Two Scherpenberg free throws tied it at 19, and consecutive layups by freshman guard Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) and Torey staked ODU to the 23-21 advantage with 4:05 left in the half.

But the Huskies answered with seven straight points, and after Hockenberry drilled a three to cut the deficit to 28-26, MTU responded with a triple of its own with 29 seconds left in the half to take a 31-26 lead into the break.

The Huskies stretched their lead to seven at 40-33 on a made three-pointer with just over 14 minutes to play, but ODU drew back within 42-39 on a right handed hook shot by sophomore forward Alex Hallenbeck (St. Johns, Mich.) in the paint with 11:58 left.

After the lead was pushed back out to seven, Bates grabbed an offensive rebound and finished a layup. Scherpenberg then led a break up the floor and found Hockenberry on the right wing, who juked two defenders and made a layup to bring it to with 49-46 with 8:49 left.

ODU remained within three at 51-48 after a pair of Hockenberry free throws at the 7:11 mark, but the Panthers went nearly seven and a half minutes in between field goal makes as the Huskies pulled away for the victory.

The Panthers return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday at Northern Michigan.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu