PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – Junior guard Emily Thomas (Pickerington, Ohio) scored 28 points but Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team fell 97-86 to Ursuline in G-MAC play Thursday night.

With the setback, ODU fell to 11-6 overall and remains in fourth in the conference at 7-4, while the Arrows improved to 13-5 and tied for first at 10-2 in the league.

Thomas made 13-of-20 from the field in the highest scoring output by a Panther this season, in addition to the most field goal makes by an ODU player. She was joined in double figures by senior Darian Rose (Fort Loramie, Ohio) and sophomore Alexa Fisher (Powell, Ohio), who each chipped in with 12 points.

The Panthers trailed by as many as 18 in the fourth quarter, 74-56 with eight minutes left, but made a late push. Fisher buried consecutive threes, then made a layup on the next possession, to bring ODU within 74-64 with 7:13 left, and Thomas followed with a jump shot to cut the gap to eight on the next trip.

Freshman Angela Troyer (Sugarcreek, Ohio) knocked down a triple to make it 76-69 with 6:30 to play. The Panthers then had two chances to draw closer on their next possession but came up empty, and the Arrows answered with an 11-4 run to build the lead to 87-73 with 3:50 left and put the game away.

The Panthers made 33-of-76 shots from the field (43.4 percent), but went just 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) from three-point range. Meanwhile, Ursuline hit 32-of-69 from the field (46.4 percent) and went 9-of-21 from deep (42.9 percent) while also knocking down 24-of-32 (75.0 percent) of its free throws.

ODU trailed 11-9 in the opening quarter, but Ursuline went on a 12-2 run to build a double-figure lead and took a 23-15 advantage into the second. Four straight points from freshman Olivia Fox (Newark, Ohio) helped the Panthers close within 26-21 early in the second, but that was as close as ODU would get as the Arrows grabbed a 45-36 lead at the break and led by double figures for virtually the entire third quarter.

Fox had a season-high nine points off the bench while Troyer added seven. Sophomore Brittleigh Macaulay (Big Prairie, Ohio) led the Panthers with six rebounds.

Ohio Dominican remains on the road to take on Lake Erie at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu