COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a tightly contested game, Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team started GLIAC play with a 61-58 victory over Saginaw Valley Thursday night in Alumni Hall.

Holding on to that 61-58 lead with 9.8 seconds left, junior Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) deflected a pass near midcourt to prevent the Cardinals from getting a last second shot off.

Scherpenberg recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds and senior Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) added 13 points. Sophomore Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) had eight points and eight rebounds and sophomore Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) also tallied eight points.

The Cardinals (4-2, 0-1 GLIAC) went in front 37-34 just over four minutes into the second half and led 44-40, but Rittinger made back to back layups to tie it at 44-44 with nine minutes left. Freshman Darian Rose (Fort Loramie, Ohio) slipped a pass through traffic to Scherpenberg, who finished with her left hand and hit the free throw to give ODU a 49-46 lead with 6:16 to play.

SVSU scored five straight to go in front 51-49, but Bates answered with a layup in transition with about five minutes to play to knot it up. Another Bates layup with four minutes left kept it tied at 53, and a pair of Scherpenberg freebies gave ODU (3-3, 1-0 GLIAC) a 55-53 lead with just over three to play.

Bates slipped backdoor for another layup after a nice feed from senior Micaela Liddane (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.), making it 57-53. Scherpenberg grabbed a rebound and was fouled, making a free throw to give ODU a 58-53 edge.

An SVSU layup with 1:37 left cut the lead to 58-55 and got the ball back after an ODU miss, but the Cardinals turned it over with 40 seconds left. Scherpenberg grabbed an offensive rebound after the Panthers missed a three, leading to a pair of Hockenberry free throws.

SVSU hit a three with 12.7 seconds left to cut it to 60-58, and Hockenberry made a free throw with 9.8 ticks left to keep the Panthers up by three.

ODU shot 37.1 percent (23-of-62) from the field and had a 42-38 rebounding edge on SVSU, which shot 36.8 percent (21-of-57).

The Panthers jumped to a 7-0 lead five minutes into the game, holding SVSU scoreless for the first 4:50 of the game. The Cardinals answered with an 11-2 run to take their first lead at the 10:35 mark.

Hockenberry and sophomore Tori Beth Leader (West Portsmouth, Ohio) hit threes to give ODU an 18-16 lead with four minutes to play in the half. Liddane drilled a three from the right wing in transition to give ODU a 25-20 lead with 2:30 left and the Panthers took a 28-27 lead into the locker room.

Ohio Dominican remains at home Saturday for a noon game against Hillsdale.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu