ADA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team took 10th-ranked Ohio Northern University to overtime but fell 61-55 in an Ohio Athletic Conference game inside the ONU Sports Center.

BW (8-6, 4-3 OAC) had two players in double figures, led by junior All-OAC guard Hannah Fecht (Hilliard/Davidson) with 12 points. Sophomore guard Riley Schill (Sheffield Village/Elyria Catholic) dropped 10 points of her own.  

Ohio Northern (13-1, 7-0 OAC) was led by senior forward Amy Bullimore with 22 points. Junior guard Jenna Dirksen also contributed 16 of her own and senior guard Lindsey Black scored 12 points.

The Yellow Jackets struggled to find a rhythm to start the game, committing three turnovers, which helped the Polar Bears out to a 10-3 lead with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter. Once BW started to settle down and take care of the basketball, a three pointer off the hands of sophomore guard/forward Kara Marshall (Copley/Akron Archbishop Hoban) brought the Yellow Jackets within five points, trailing 17-12 at the end of the quarter.

Freshman guard Gabby Garrett (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) and freshman forward Sydney Diedrich (Chardon/Gilmour Academy) opened the second quarter with consecutive three-pointers while a personal 4-0 run from sophomore guard Tiffany Bentler (North Canton/Hoover) gave BW a 22-19 advantage at the 7:00 mark, marking a 10-2 run for the Yellow Jackets. A three pointer from transfer sophomore guard/forward Mary Schentur (Broadview Heights/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) and two free throws from Schill brought BW up by six points while the defense locked down and held the Polar Bears to only seven points total in the quarter. The Yellow Jackets went into the locker room at halftime up 29-24.

Fecht went on a personal 8-0 run to start the second half as the Yellow Jackets built up to a seven point, 37-30 lead. Bullimore, the reigning OAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week, countered with a personal 4-0 run of her own to bring Ohio Northern within five points of the lead but junior Academic All-OAC forward Rachel Womeldorf (Lewis Center/Olentangy) hit one of two from the free throw line to put a stop to the run. The Polar Bears continued to claw their way back into the game and only trailed by one point with 1:43 left in the quarter. Senior forward Megan Schubert (Defiance/Ayersville) beat the buzzer with a jumper to put the Yellow Jackets back up by three points, 43-40, going into the final period.

Ohio Northern regained its first lead since the second quarter when Bullimore made a layup with 6:30 left in the game. The Polar Bears worked with a three point lead for most of the period until a Schill layup followed by trey by sophomore guard Kasey Hughes (Springboro) put the Yellow Jackets back in front 52-50 with 1:21 remaining. Despite a strong defensive stand with just under a minute remaining, Bullimore made a layup to tie the game at 52-52, sending the game into overtime.

Defense highlighted overtime as neither team found the net until the 2:05 mark when Bullimore hit a jumper to give Ohio Northern a 54-52 lead, one it never relinquished, while the Yellow Jackets were held scoreless until Hughes hit a three-pointer as time expired.

BW will return to Berea on Saturday, January 13, to take on Otterbein University for an OAC game at 3 p.m. inside Ursprung Gymnasium.