ALLIANCE, Ohio – No. 22 Mount Union drops first home game of the season to No. 6 Ohio Northern 71-53 in an Ohio Athletic Conference women's basketball game Saturday, February 9 at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.

With the loss the Purple Raiders fall to 18-5 overall and 12-4 in the OAC while the Polar Bears improve to 22-1 overall and 16-0 in the OAC. Ohio Northern clinched the OAC regular-season title outright and are the number one seed in the conference tournament.

Senior Tierney Allen (Alliance/Alliance) led the way for the Raiders with team-high 11 points and sophomore Aly Daniel (Willard/Willard) had 10 points with senior Marybeth Leitch (Rocky River/Rocky River) led the team in rebounds with six.

Senior Rosa LaMattina (Westlake/Westlake) chipped in with seven assists and five points, making her number three on the school's all-time scorers list with 1,547.

The Polar Bears had four score in double-digits led by junior Cenzie Yoder who had game-high 17 points, freshman Brooke Espenschied and senior Joanna Snyder chipped in with 10 points apiece. Senior Marissa Clark had 11 points rounding out the double-digit scorers.

The score would never change hands and only be tied once early in the game at two points. The Bears jumped out to an early start, 8-2 over the Raiders. Mount Union would close the gap to within three points with eight minutes remaining in the first half, 23-20. Ohio Northern would close the half on an 17-8 run taking their 12 point lead into halftime, 40-28.

Mount Union would come out of the half and score the first two points with a layup from freshman Annie Bova (Parma Heights/Beaumont), 40-30. The Bears would go on an 11-4 run to the 13:35 mark up by 17 points, 51-34. The Raiders would answer back with an 11-6 run to come within 12 points, 57-45 before the Polar Bears sealed the victory with an 14-8 run reaching their largest lead of the game at the final 71-53.

Mount Union travels on the road to Marietta Wednesday, February13th in an OAC matchup at 7:30 pm at Marietta, Ohio.  

Newspaper Box Score
Ohio Northern vs Mount Union
02/09/13 3:00 pm at Alliance, Ohio -- MAAC
At Alliance, Ohio -- MAAC

OHIO NORTHERN 71, MOUNT UNION 53

OHIO NORTHERN (22-1, 16-0 OAC)
Cenzie Yoder 6-10 5-8 17; Marissa Clark 4-5 1-1 11; Joanna Snyder 4-11 2-2
10; Brooke Espenschied 3-7 3-6 10; Jordan Kimes 3-3 1-2 7; Sara Kocian 2-3
0-0 6; Morgan Dumbaugh 3-6 0-0 6; Taylor Hermiller 1-3 0-0 2; Katie Mengos
1-3 0-0 2; Carly Thomas 0-0 0-0 0; Katie Jones 0-0 0-0 0; Mary Miller 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 27-51 12-19 71.

MOUNT UNION (18-5, 12-4 OAC)
Tierney Allen 4-6 3-5 11; Aly Daniel 4-6 2-2 10; Jessie Baldridge 3-7 3-4 9;
Rosa LaMattina 2-11 1-2 5; Kensie Kimble 2-2 0-0 5; Marybeth Leitch 1-1 2-2
4; Amanda Turner 1-7 0-0 3; Emily Albanese 1-4 0-0 2; Annie Bova 1-4 0-0 2;
Maggie Miller 1-5 0-0 2; Bridget Lyons 0-0 0-0 0; Chandler Moore 0-0 0-0 0;
Brittany Kilgore 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 11-15 53.

Ohio Northern.................   40   31  -   71
Mount Union...................   28   25  -   53

3-point goals--Ohio Northern 5-14 (Marissa Clark 2-3; Sara Kocian 2-2;
Brooke Espenschied 1-3; Morgan Dumbaugh 0-3; Taylor Hermiller 0-1; Katie
Mengos 0-1; Joanna Snyder 0-1), Mount Union 2-20 (Kensie Kimble 1-1; Amanda
Turner 1-6; Rosa LaMattina 0-5; Emily Albanese 0-1; Annie Bova 0-3; Maggie
Miller 0-3; Tierney Allen 0-1). Fouled out--Ohio Northern-None, Mount
Union-None. Rebounds--Ohio Northern 34 (Brooke Espenschied 6), Mount Union
30 (Marybeth Leitch 6). Assists--Ohio Northern 13 (Taylor Hermiller 2;
Brooke Espenschied 2; Sara Kocian 2; Cenzie Yoder 2; Katie Mengos 2), Mount
Union 15 (Rosa LaMattina 7). Total fouls--Ohio Northern 15, Mount Union 18.
Technical fouls--Ohio Northern-None, Mount Union-None. A-803