Micaela Liddane Interview  |  Lynsey Warren Interview

FINDLAY, Ohio – A balanced effort on both ends of the floor lifted Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team to its biggest road win of the season, scoring a 69-51 victory over Findlay Thursday night in GLIAC play.

Last season, ODU suffered a 30-point setback to the Oilers in Croy Gymnasium, but flipped the script on the home team tonight. The win lifted the Panthers to 9-11 (6-10 GLIAC) as they swept the season series from Findlay (9-11, 6-10) and moved within two games of the final spot in the GLIAC Tournament with six to play.

Junior guard Micaela Liddane (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) scored a career-high 15 points, freshman guard Tori Beth Leader (West Portsmouth, Ohio) had some key buckets late and the Panthers won their second consecutive game by double digits.

Junior guard Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) had a team-high 16 points and sophomore forward Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) grabbed 14 rebounds to go along with nine points.

After watching a 15-point second half lead cut to five with 7:56 left, Liddane and Leader lifted the offense. Liddane made a free throw then knocked down a jump shot to put the Panthers on top 51-43 with just over six minutes left, and Leader attacked the basket and earned a pair of trips to the free throw line, hitting all four to put ODU in front 55-45 with five minutes to play.

The freshman then finished off a layup on a nice pass from Hockenberry to extend the lead to 57-45, and Hockenberry sank a deep three from the left wing with 2:36 left, keeping the Panthers in front by 13 and ending any comeback hopes.

ODU outscored Findlay 21-8 over the game's final seven minutes and held the Oilers to just 23.1 percent shooting in the second half (6-of-26).

The Panthers shot 42.9 percent for the game (24-of-56), went 17-of-19 from the line (89.5 percent) and turned 21 Oiler turnovers into 25 points.

The Panthers led for virtually the entire first half. Hockenberry knocked down a pull-up jumper in transition to make it 10-7 in the opening five minutes, and the lead stretched to 18-11 at the 8:30 mark after two free throws apiece by Liddane and Hockenberry.

Liddane then buried a triple from the right corner to beat the shot clock, and Hockenberry stuck a baseline jumper to give the Panthers their biggest lead at 23-13 with less than six minutes to play.

Findlay answered with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 25-24, but freshman guard Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) knocked down consecutive jumpers and Hockenberry drilled a three from the top of the key to help the Panthers take a 32-26 lead into the locker room.

ODU then ran out to a 48-33 lead early in the second half. Hockenberry found Scherpenberg in transition for a layup to make it 39-30, and a three-point play by freshman guard Kayla Cook (Westerville, Ohio) made it 44-33 five minutes in.

Leader then knocked down a jumper and hit Scherpenberg ahead of the pack for a layup to make it 48-33 with 13:07 to play.

Findlay would answer with a 10-0 run to cut the score to 48-43 before the Panthers responded in the final seven minutes.

Bates chipped in with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists, while freshman forward Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) pulled down nine rebounds.

Ohio Dominican remains on the road for a 1 p.m. contest Saturday at Hillsdale.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu