Lynsey Warren Interview

TIFFIN, Ohio – Five players scored in double figures and Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team closed its season in style with an 86-77 victory Thursday at Tiffin, setting new program highs in Division II and the GLIAC with victories.

The Panthers finished the year 12-14 overall and 9-13 in the GLIAC, placing fourth in the South Division – also a best for the program since joining the conference for the 2010-11 season.

ODU shot a season-best 56.1 percent (32-of-57) from the field and finished with its most points in a game since putting up 89 against Lake Erie in 2010. That was also the last season ODU had five players score in double figures.

Despite being plagued with foul trouble, junior guard Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) scored a game-high 20 points in just 19 minutes, hitting 9-of-11 from the field. Sophomore forward Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) had her eighth double-double of the year, tallying 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Also scoring in double figures was freshman guard Kayla Cook (Westerville, Ohio) with 12 points, classmate Tori Beth Leader (West Portsmouth, Ohio) added 11 and junior guard Micaela Liddane (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) went 8-of-10 from the free throw line to finish with 10 points.

The Panthers led for all but 12 seconds in today's contest, with Tiffin grabbing a 52-51 lead with just under 12 minutes to play – its first lead of the game.

Hockenberry answered with a jump shot, and free throws by Cook and Scherpenberg put ODU back in front 57-53. Liddane came up with a steal, leading to a Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) layup in transition, and Cook knocked down a jumper to cap a 10-1 Panther run, giving the Panthers a 61-53 lead with 9:51 to play.

Scherpenberg and Bates each knocked down short jumpers, and Leader drilled a three from the right corner to give ODU a 70-59 advantage, and Hockenberry's jumper with 3:32 left handed the Panthers their biggest lead of the game at 76-63.

But Tiffin answered, scoring 10t straight points to trim the ODU advantage to 76-73 with just over two minutes left.

Liddane drew a foul, though, and made both free throws, and Bates broke Tiffin's full-court pressure for a layup, putting the Panthers back in front 80-73 with 1:46 left. Three more free throws by Liddane over the next 40 seconds extended the lead back to double digits, sealing the win.

The Panthers scored 50 points in the second half, their highest scoring half of the season.

ODU led for the entire first half. Freshman forward Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) hit a jumper and went coast-to-coast on a layup, and Liddane followed with another endline-to-endline layup to put the Panthers back on top 23-15 with 7:45 left.

Later, Scherpenberg scored seven straight points, drilling a three from the top of the key, sticking a baseline jumper on a nice feed from Cook, then sinking two free throws to help the Panthers to an 11-point lead with just over three minutes to play.

However, foul difficulties allowed Tiffin to crawl back into the game, cutting ODU's lead to 36-31 at the break. The Dragons continued to fight back early in the second half, chipping away at the Panther advantage before finally taking their first lead.

ODU went 16-of-20 from the free throw line in the second half and survived despite allowing Tiffin to grab 21 offensive rebounds, which led to a 20-4 advantage in second chance points for the hosts.

Rittinger finished with eight points and blocked three shots, while Bates had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu