PAINESVILLE, Ohio – Senior Alexa Fisher (Powell, Ohio) and junior Angela Troyer (Sugarcreek, Ohio) each topped 20 points as the Ohio Dominican women's basketball team never trailed in an 86-67 victory at Lake Erie Thursday evening.

The win, improves ODU to 9-9 overall and 4-4 in the Great Midwest. The Panthers have now won four straight games, which ties a season-best stretch. Thursday also marked the third time since the calendar turned to 2020 that the Black & Gold have never trailed in a victory.

Fisher fell one point shy of matching her season and team scoring high for a single game, finishing with 26 points. The senior made a career-best 10 field goals and added a pair of steals defensively. Troyer made 7-of-14 shots, including a 3-for-5 effort from deep, for 21 points. The junior pitched in four rebounds as well.

Registering her fourth double-double of the season, and second within the past three games, was senior Brittleigh Macaulay (Big Prairie, Ohio). Macaulay logged 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while adding 11 rebounds. She also tied a career high with four assists and tallied multiple steals for fifth time in the past six appearances.

Tying Macaulay for the team high in rebounds was sophomore Alli Kern (Waterford, Ohio). With the 11-rebound performance, the sophomore has now posted double-digit boards in each of the past four games. Classmate Kennedy Schlabach (Millersburg, Ohio) pitched in 11 points and four assists off the bench.

The Panthers made four of their first seven shots to take a 9-2 advantage four minutes into play, forcing Lake Erie (7-11, 4-4 G-MAC) to call a timeout. ODU would go on to make 10 of its 17 field goal attempts in the first quarter and a layup from Schroeder in the closing seconds engineered a 23-16 lead after 10 minutes of action.

A 12-2 scoring run to start the second quarter allowed the Black & Gold to expand its lead to 17 points, 35-18. The Storm cut the deficit to 11 points twice in the frame, but a coast-to-coast layup at the buzzer by Fisher matched the Panthers' largest lead of the half, 18 points, at 48-30.

ODU shot 54.3 percent in the first half, making 19-of-35 field goals. The team added five makes from behind the arc and was a perfect 5-for-5 at the charity stripe. Troyer had 15 points over the first 20 minutes of play.

The Panthers led by double figures for the entire second half. Lake Erie closed the gap to 12 points in the third quarter, but again, five quick points to end the frame by ODU led the Panthers to a 65-48 advantage with 10 minutes remaining.

Lake Erie's final rally saw them score 10 of the first 13 points in the fourth quarter, cutting the ODU lead to 10 points, 68-58, with 5:31 to play. Still leading by 10 with 4:31 remaining, the Panthers closed the game on a 14-5 spurt to secure the 86-67 final tally.

The Black & Gold made 33-of-69 field goal attempts, a .478 shooting percentage, which is the team's highest mark since a .500 clip against nationally-ranked Glenville State on Nov. 21, 2019. The Panthers also took advantage of 17 LEC giveaways with 23 points off turnovers. ODU enjoyed a 35-28 edge on the glass, as well as a 40-30 tally in paint points.

The Panthers will now look to avenge their only loss of the New Year and keep their winning streak alive when they welcome Cedarville to Alumni Hall at 3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu