COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team exploded for 54 second half points and rolled to a 91-72 senior day victory over Tiffin in GLIAC play Thursday night in Alumni Hall.

The Panthers shot 64.5 percent in the second half, hitting 20-of-31 shots from the field, and the 91 points are the second most the team has scored in a game this season.

All three Panther seniors contributed to the victory. Guard Kacee Hockenberry (Haviland, Ohio) tallied a season-high 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting, guard Micaela Liddane (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) tied a career-best with nine assists, and guard Holly Brunswick (Fort Recovery, Ohio), playing in just her 14th career game due to injuries, drilled a three in the waning minutes that brought the Alumni Hall audience to its feet.

ODU (10-17, 7-14 GLIAC) assisted on 24 of 31 made field goals, setting a new season best in that category. They had an assist on 18 of the 20 made field goals in the second half.

The Panthers finished the game hitting 31-of-61 shots (50.8 percent) and limited Tiffin (7-20, 6-15 GLIAC) to just 39.7 percent shooting in the game. ODU scored 19 points off of 16 Tiffin turnovers, had a 12-0 edge in fastbreak points and outscored Tiffin 38-24 in the paint. The Panthers also committed just 11 turnovers themselves.

ODU led by just three at the half, 37-34, but charged out of the locker room on a 9-0 run. Two layups by sophomore Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) and a Hockenberry three started the run, and a steal by sophomore Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) led to a transition layup for Hockenberry to give ODU a 46-34 advantage.

The Panthers, who made their first six shots of the half, kept the run going. Liddane had a nifty dish to Hockenberry on the break, who made the layup and drew a foul, to extend the lead to 55-38 with 15:03 left.

Tiffin cut it to 59-49 with 11:45 left, but ODU scored the next seven points. Rittinger made back to back layups, finishing off a three-point play on the latter one, and Hockenberry made two free throws to bump the lead back to 68-51 with 10 minutes left.

ODU would eventually lead by as much as 26 points in the second half.

Rittinger had a terrific performance, scoring 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go along with eight boards, four blocks, three steals and three assists. Junior forward Melissa Scherpenberg (Cincinnati, Ohio) notched her 11th double-double of the year with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and she also had three helpers.

A disjointed first half featured seven ties and three lead changes, with a total of 27 fouls called and 34 free throws attempted. Neither side led by more than four points over the opening 17 minutes of the half. The Panthers briefly went in front by seven, 35-28, on a Scherpenberg three-point play with 2:06 left, but Tiffin cut the deficit to 37-34 at the half.

Ohio Dominican and Tiffin conclude the regular season with a rematch occurring at 1 p.m. Saturday in Tiffin.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu