BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – A frantic second half comeback came up short for Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team as the Panthers fell 78-74 at Ferris State on Sunday afternoon.

ODU trailed 71-55 with less than six minutes left but had two chances to tie or take the lead in the final 1:15.

Senior guard Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) came up with a steal in the backcourt as ODU trailed 76-74, but a missed layup and a turnover gave Ferris the ball back with 47 seconds left.

ODU fouled with 36 ticks left and Ferris made one of two free throws to go in front by three. The Panthers attempted a three with nine seconds left, but it was blocked, and a Bulldog free throw with four seconds left sealed the game.

With the loss, ODU fell to 3-5 (1-2 GLIAC), while the Bulldogs improved to 5-2 (3-1 GLIAC).

Hockenberry scored 14 of her game-high 24 points in the second half and junior Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) had a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds – her GLIAC best sixth of the year.

Sophomore Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and a career-high six steals, and sophomore Tori Beth Leader (West Portsmouth, Ohio) came off the bench to score 12 points.

But the Panthers turned it over 20 times – 15 in the second half – and Ferris shot 48.3 percent from the field (28-of-58), including 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) in the final 20 minutes.

ODU fell behind 20-10 in the opening 9:30 of the game, but responded with a 17-2 burst, capped by Leader's three pointer, to go in front 27-22 with 5:02 left. Ferris, though, would take a 33-31 lead at the half.

The Bulldogs went in front 41-33 early in the half, but a 7-0 run cut the deficit to 41-40 after a Bates layin. However, Ferris was able to retake a double digit lead with just over 10 minutes left, and it swelled to 16 with 5:41 left.

Threes by Scherpenberg, freshman Darian Rose (Fort Loramie, Ohio) and Hockenberry helped cut the deficit to 74-66 with 3:41 left, and jumpers by Bates and Hockenberry and two free throws by sophomore Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) made it 76-72 with 1:42 left.

ODU's defense forced another turnover in the backcourt, which led to Bates' layup that cut it to 76-74 with 1:15 left, but the Panthers could not complete the comeback.

Ohio Dominican plays at Grand Valley at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu