BEREA, OHIO – Junior forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) scored 27 points as the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball team upset Ohio Northern University, 70-65, today (Saturday, February 18, 2012) in the final Ohio Athletic Conference regular season game on Seniors' & Parents' Day and President Richard W. Durst Day in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center. The 2012 OAC Tournament begins on Monday, Feb. 20.
Today's B-W women's and men's doubleheader was televised by SportsTime Ohio. The men's game can be seen this evening (Saturday, Feb. 18) at 9:00 p.m. and again on Monday, Feb. 20 at 7:00 a.m. The women's game can be viewed this evening at 11:00 p.m. and tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 19 at 7:00 a.m. and again at 4:00 p.m. B-W has broadcast more of its athletics events on regional cable TV than any other Division III school.
Prior to today's women's game, B-W honored its lone senior in forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/ St. Mary's Central Catholic) who scored two points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds in the contest. Her 11 rebounds now gives her 603 for her career as she is ninth all-time in school history.
With its win, B-W improves to 16-9 overall and ends the regular season at 11-7 and will be either the No.4 or No.5 seed in the OAC Tournament depending upon the outcome of today's other OAC contests. The Polar Bears end the regular season at 20-5 overall and 14-4 in the OAC and will be the No.2 seed and opens OAC tourney play in the semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 23.
In addition to Carpenter and Spisak for B-W, sophomore center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/ Parma Normandy) scored 12 points. For ONU, sophomore center Kenzie Yoder had a team-high 24 points. She was joined in double figures by junior guards Joanna Snyder with 12 points and Morgan Dumbaugh with 11, all in the second half.
The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring at 19:22 mark when Simovic made a jump shot for a 2-0 lead. Following an ONU basket, Simovic made another jumper at 18:21 and Carpenter nailed a three-pointer at 17:40 for a 7-2 advantage. And, after an ONU foul shot, sophomore forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) scored at 15:10 and freshman guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) made a trey for a 12-3 lead.
ONU regained the lead at 22-21 when senior point guard Megan Porter made one of two foul shots at 5:14. The lead grew to five points at 26-21 with 2:12 left when Dysert canned a 10-foot jumper in the lane, and the Polar Bears extended it to 31-23 at 1:07 when Yoder converted a three-point play. Overall, the Polar Bear run was 28-11 from 13:29 to 1:07. Carpenter ended the run with 45.1 seconds left before the intermission when she connected on two foul shots to close to 31-25. ONU also led at halftime, 33-25.
In the second half, ONU grabbed an 11-point lead at 36-25 when Snyder made a triple at 19:38. After a Carpenter hoop at 19:19, Yoder had another three-point play at 17:48 for a 39-27 bulge.
ONU called timeout. Out of the break, the Polar Bears
In terms of the OAC Tournament, the first round is on Monday, Feb. 20, the second round on Tuesday, Feb. 21, the semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 23 and the Championship games on Saturday, Feb. 25. On Monday, the No.5-seed hosts the No.8 seed and the No.6-seed hosts the No.7 -seed. On Tuesday, the No.3-seed hosts the winner of the No.6 vs. No.7-seed game and the No.4-seed hosts the winner of the No.5 vs. No.8-seed game. On Thursday, the No.1 and No.2 seeds host the semifinal games. The Women's OAC Championship Game is at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and the Men's OAC Championship Game is at 7:30 p.m.
Fans can listen to all home and away Yellow Jacket men's and women's basketball games live on campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, and via its internet web site. To listen via the internet, please log on at http://real.bw.edu/ramgen/broadcast/WBWC_LIVE.rm. The pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to tipoff.
FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.