COLUMBUS, Ohio – On Thursday afternoon, the Ohio Dominican women's basketball team returns to Alumni Hall to dive back in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play. The Black and Gold will host Cedarville University and Walsh University, beginning a ten game stretch with eight games on Sunbury Road.

About Ohio Dominican
The Panthers enter this week with a 3-8 overall record and a 0-3 G-MAC mark. To end the 2023 calendar year, ODU traveled to regional opponent, University of Indianapolis, where they fell to the Greyhounds, 83-71.

On that Saturday, Gabby Stare (Newark, Ohio) netted 25 points, going 11-18 from the field. The senior added three rebounds and three steals in the match. Stare is now second in the conference in scoring, averaging 18.5 points per game. She posts the third best shooting percentage, 56.6 percent, and free throw percentage, 87.3 percent.

Off the bench, Jazmyn Wheeler (Winfield, W. Va.) secured 12 points for the Panthers, going 5-8 from the field in 12 minutes of play. Following her was junior, Brynn Mullet (Berlin, Ohio) with 10 points on the afternoon. Mullet led the team with five assists.

Leading the team on the rebounding end was Jenna Shackleford (Newark, Ohio) with seven rebounds. She also accounted for four steals, a team high. Following her was Logan Pride (Twinsburg, Ohio) with four rebounds.

As a team, the Black and Gold are third in the G-MAC in steals per game, averaging 10.2, and in field goal percentage, shooting 43.5 percent. ODU averages 63.0 points per game as they allow their opponents to average 71.6 points per game.

About Cedarville
The Yellow Jackets are 3-7 on the year and 1-2 in the G-MAC thus far. Most recently, Cedarville fell at Central State on Dec. 30, 84-79.

Leading the way for CU, and third in the conference, is Lydia Sweeney, averaging 18.0 points per game. The senior leads the team in steals per game, averaging 2.8, assists per game, averaging 3.0, and rebounds per game, averaging 4.0.

Kat Weakley follows Sweeney, averaging 10.6 point per game, while KaCee Kyle grabs 9.3 points per game. Kyle follows Sweeney in a number of categories, including assists per game (2.8), steals per game (1.5), and rebounds per game (3.8).

As a unit, the Yellow Jackets average 64.7 points per game while their opponents put up 71.9 points per game. They are shooting 23.5 percent from the field, 28.3 percent from behind the arc, and 71.0 percent from the charity stripe.

In the first meeting this fall, Ohio Dominican led at the half but Cedarville came out strong at the break to secure an 85-70 win at home. This pushed the Yellow Jackets to an 11-6 record over the Panthers during the NCAA Division II Era. They are 5-2 against ODU inside Alumni Hall.

About Walsh
The Cavaliers are 3-7 overall and 1-3 in the conference before traveling to Ursuline College on Thursday and to Ohio Dominican on Saturday. Walsh last play on Dec. 19 at Nova Southwestern, dropping the match 75-70.

The top scorer for the Cavs is sophomore, Kiley Dyrlund, with 12.4 points per game. Dyrlund also leads the team in blocks per game, averaging 1.2, steals per game, averaging 2.9, and rebounds per game, averaging 5.3.

Following Dyrlund in scoring is Alycia Triplett with 7.9 points per game. Triplett matches Dyrlund in rebounding, grabbing 5.3 boards per game. Emma Dretke averages 6.3 points per game. The sophomore also snags 1.2 blocks per game and 4.4 rebounds per game.

As a squad, the Maroon and Gold average 56.7 points per game while shooting 34.4 percent from the field. The Cavs are shooting 29.6 percent from behind the arc and 70.6 percent from the free throw line.

The two are meeting for the first time this fall after WU swept ODU last season. With that pair of wins, the Cavaliers moved to 13-8 over the Panthers during the NCAA Division II All-Time series. When in Columbus, Walsh is 6-5 against Ohio Dominican and have currently won the last five matchups.

Tipoff
Ohio Dominican is set to tipoff at 5:30 PM on Thursday afternoon against the Yellow Jackets. They close out the weekend by hosting the Cavaliers at 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoon.