COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican women's basketball team got off to a hot shooting start Saturday afternoon and honored its seniors in the regular season finale with an 83-65 triumph over Great Midwest foe Trevecca Nazarene.

ODU recognized four senior student-athletes prior to Saturday's game, with Hannah Clark (Glenmont, Ohio), Alexa Fisher (Powell, Ohio), Brittleigh Macaulay (Big Prairie, Ohio) and Emily Thomas (Pickerington, Ohio) combining for 46 of ODU's 83 points. Fisher paced the Panthers with 17 points, while also tying a career high with five steals. Macaulay and Thomas each added 11 points, while Clark finished with seven points. Macaulay and Clark combined for 10 rebounds, with Fisher and Thomas dishing out three assists each.

The quartet of seniors combined for 16 points in the first quarter as ODU led 22-7. The Black & Gold opened the game on a 15-2 scoring run and made 9-of-16 field goal attempts in the first 10-minute period.

The strong shooting continued for ODU in the second quarter, but Trevecca joined the Panthers with a field goal percentage over .500 in the period. ODU ballooned its advantage to as many as 18 points in the first half, as a three-pointer from sophomore Kennedy Schlabach (Millersburg, Ohio) made it 35-17 with 4:28 left before intermission.

ODU led 43-26 at the break. The Panthers shot 55.6 percent in the first half, making 16-of-29 shots, including six tries from deep. Seven players for ODU had five-plus points over the opening 20 minutes of play.

Trevecca used a 9-2 run to close its deficit to eight points, 56-48, with 3:48 to play in the third frame. The Trojans (9-18, 6-12 G-MAC) would outscore ODU 26-20 in the quarter, but still trailed the Black & Gold 63-52.

ODU allowed the opening basket of the final frame, but followed it with a 14-2 scoring spurt to tie its largest lead of the game, 21 points, at 77-56 with just over three minutes play. The Panthers conceded just 13 points in the fourth quarter to cruise to the 83-65 decision.

Five Panther players reached double figures in the scoring column, which was the first occurrence since the second game of the season against nationally-ranked Ashland. To go along with three seniors, Schlabch and junior Angela Troyer (Sugarcreek, Ohio) finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Schlabach led ODU with five assists, while Troyer added three assists and three steals.

Overall, ODU shot 49.2 percent, while the Trojans finished with a .431 clip. The Panthers enjoyed a 40-33 edge on the glass. Sophomore Alli Kern (Waterford, Ohio) registered 17 rebounds, giving her a total of 35 boards over the final two regular season games. Kern now has 11 games this season with 10-plus rebounds.

The Panthers finish the regular season winners in 12 of their final 14 games to post a 17-11 overall record and 12-6 mark in G-MAC play. ODU's conference performance was good enough for the No. 6 spot in the G-MAC Point System Rating, qualifying the team for postseason play. The Black & Gold will travel to face the No. 3 seed, Findlay, at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 3. The winner will advance to the semifinals on Friday, March 6, with time and location still to be determined.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu