ALLIANCE, Ohio—Mount Union's women's basketball team took down Otterbein 70-59 in Ohio Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon.
 
With two weeks to go Mount Union now is one game back of Otterbein in the race for the sixth and last seed in the OAC tournament.
 
The Purple Raiders (10-11, 5-9 OAC) were led by Dae Dae Nash (Akron / Buchtel) with 17 points. Elizabeth Mason (Alliance / Marlington) and Hailey Haywood (Barberton) finished with double digits with 14 and 11.
 
Otterbein (10-11, 6-8 OAC) was led by Kathleen DeCarlo with 17 points and seven rebounds while Mattie Walburn finished with 13 points.
 
The first quarter both teams mirrored each other as they both shot 5-for-15 from the field, 1-for-5 from the three-point line and Otterbein hit one more free throw three-to-four as they took a 14-13 lead into the first quarter break.
 
Mount Union took the halftime advantage as they outscored Otterbein 18-15 taking a 31-29 halftime lead. The Raiders then came out of the halftime break and went on a 10-0 run to open the game up leading 41-31 as Mason had four points while Nash and Haywood finished with three points in the run.
 
Otterbein got within five in the third quarter, but Mount Union pushed the lead out to 12 with 4:13 remaining in the quarter. Both teams traded buckets back and forth the rest of the quarter as Mount Union took a 56-48 lead into the final quarter.
 
Otterbein got as close as six but Mount Union pushed the lead out to 12 twice in the final quarter and held off a late charge from Otterbein winning 70-59.
 
Mount Union remains at home taking on Muskingum on Wednesday with a 7 PM start time.