COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team grabbed an eight point lead in the second half, but Ashland hit 12 of its last 14 shots from the field as ODU suffered a 72-52 setback to the Eagles Thursday night in GLIAC play.

The Panthers went in front 32-24 with 14:24 to play, but were outscored 48-20 for the remainder of the contest.

With the loss, the Panthers fell to 6-13 (3-10 GLIAC), while the Eagles improved to 13-6 (9-4 GLIAC).

Sophomore Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) led ODU with 15 points and eight rebounds and classmate Jackie Oestreich (Brighton, Mich.) scored a career-best 13 points as well to lead ODU.

But ODU committed 25 turnovers, which led to 29 Ashland points, and the Panthers made just 17-of-47 field goals (36.2 percent) for the game.

Neither team led by more than four points in a first half marred by offensive fouls. The teams combined for 21 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes as Ashland took a 20-19 lead into the locker room.

The Panthers scored the first seven points of the second half, with a Rittinger layup, a three by senior Micaela Liddane (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) and a layup by Oestreich. The lead grew to eight at 32-24 on a pair of free throws by freshman Sarah Futscher (Wilder, Ky.).

However, consecutive turnovers led to fastbreak layups for the Eagles, and Ashland would take its first lead of the second half at 41-40 with 7:53 left. Consecutive threes by Taylor Woods – who scored 21 of her 23 points in the second half – bumped Ashland's lead to 51-42, and the Eagles continued to pull away down the stretch.

Futscher had eight points and three assists in 14 minutes, Liddane had six points and five assists, and sophomore Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) finished with seven points.

Ohio Dominican remains at home to take on Lake Erie at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu