COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team cut a 24 point deficit to three in the second half, but couldn't complete the comeback as the Panthers fell 64-57 to No. 20 Michigan Tech Friday night in Alumni Hall.

ODU fought back from a 33-9 deficit in the first half to make it 48-45 with nine minutes left in the game. However, the Panthers went scoreless for over six minutes as the Huskies (9-0, 5-0 GLIAC) bumped their lead back to 15 at 60-45 with 2:53 to play.

ODU (4-7, 1-4 GLIAC) didn't go quietly, though. Senior Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) hit a trio of three pointers and junior forward Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) had a three point play to trim the deficit to 62-57, and ODU had possession of the ball with 22 seconds left, but could draw no closer.

The Huskies shot a blistering 59.3 percent from the field in the first half, including 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from behind the arc, as MTU took a 41-26 lead into the locker room. The Huskies would hit a season-high 12 threes in the game.

The Panthers went just 21-of-64 (32.8 percent) from the floor in the setback, attempting 16 more field goal attempts than MTU on the strength of forcing 20 turnovers and grabbing 15 offensive rebounds.

Hockenberry scored 21 points and Scherpenberg had her eighth double-double of the year with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) added 11 points and sophomore forward Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) had eight points and tied a season-high with nine rebounds.

Down 15 at the break, Scherpenberg made a layup to cut the deficit to 45-36 with 14:38 left, and Bates capped a three-point play at the free throw line to get ODU within six (45-39) moments later.

Hockenberry had a fastbreak layup to get the Panthers within three, 48-45, and the Panthers had two possessions to draw closer but could not do so before the Huskies' 12-0 run.

Ohio Dominican remains at home for a 1 p.m. game Sunday with Northern Michigan.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu