Phillipi, W.Va. – A superlative effort from senior Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) helped carry Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team to an 81-73 win over Alderson Broaddus in the Panthers' season opener Friday night.

Scherpenberg hit all 11 of her shots from the field to finish with a career-high 25 points, while also pulling down 11 rebounds and coming away with seven steals in 33 minutes of action. Going back to the 2000-01 season, no other player has put 25 or more points with 10 or more rebounds and five or more steals in a game.

And since 2000, only other player has made five or more shots in a game without a miss – Kristen Ruen, who went 7-for-7 in a game against Mount Vernon Nazarene on Jan. 16, 2007.

She was part of a Panther offense that shot 47.3 percent from the field (26-of-55), and the Panthers also hit 27-of-33 (81.8 percent) from the free throw line.

The Panthers trailed 17-16 with just under three minutes to play in the first quarter, but would not trail again. ODU scored the final eight points of the quarter, part of a 12-0 run going into the second quarter, to go in front 28-17.

Later in the quarter, the Panthers stretched the lead to 36-23 on a pair of free throws by sophomore Megan Eyre (Fayetteville, Ohio) and took a 45-37 lead into the locker room, shooting 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) in the half.

The Battlers drew within 47-42 early in the second half, but it was all Panthers from there. ODU scored the next 13 points, including four consecutive Scherpenberg layups at one point, to build a 60-42 cushion with 3:26 left in the period, and the lead grew to as much as 24 midway through the fourth quarter (77-53).

Junior Tori Beth Leader (West Portsmouth, Ohio) scored 15 points, going 6-for-6 from the free throw line, and junior Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) added 10 points and five rebounds for the Panthers. Sophomore guard Darian Rose (Fort Loramie, Ohio) made her first career start and tallied eight points with a career-best six assists.

The Panthers overcame 25 turnovers by creating 28 of their own, coming away with 17 steals. That's the most steals since ODU had 18 in last year's season opening win over Ursuline.

This is the fifth consecutive season that ODU has started the year with a victory as well.

Ohio Dominican takes on Cedarville at 1 p.m. Saturday to conclude play at the GLIAC-GMAC Crossover.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu