By: Athletic Communications Student-Assistant Paige Phillips '23
ADA, Ohio -- The Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team closes out the 2021 regular season with a loss to Ohio Northern University in the final game of the home-and-home weekend series by a final score of 61-53 in the gymnasium of the ONU Sports Center
BW (8-4, 8-4 OAC) had two players score in double figures led by Senior Gabby Garrett (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) with 17 points and five rebounds. Junior All-OAC forward Lilly Edwards (Dublin/Coffman) added 14 points to the board and four rebounds.
Ohio Northern (5-7, 5-7 OAC) had three players score in double digits led by Lexi Jacobs with 14 points, three rebounds, and four assists. Emily Brock scored 10 points and had 8 rebounds accompanied by 10 points and 8 rebounds from Kristen Luersman.
In the first quarter, the Yellow Jackets had a slow start only making about 15% of their shots. Ohio Northern came out fast scoring five points in the first three minutes of the game after two free throws and a three-pointer. Junior guard Emily Lyon (Medina/Highland) responded with a three-pointer of her own at the 3:53 mark. Garret followed with a jumper, cutting ONU's lead to 5-7. The Polar Bears ended the quarter with another 2-point shot, leaving the score 5-9 into the quarter break.
ONU widened its lead to 5-16, while the Yellow Jackets continued to struggle making shots until the 6:13 mark when junior forward Megan Scheibelhut (Avon Lake/Elyria Catholic) made a layup. Ohio Northern responded with a 6-0 run, pushing the score up to 8-24. Both teams continued to score back and forth, closing the opening half at a score of 13-25.
BW started the second half on a 5-2 run including a rebound by freshman forward Kara Philpot (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls), shrinking ONU's lead to six points. Ohio Northern increased their lead again to 19-30 with a free throw from Emily Brock and a layup from Kate Ilif. The third quarter ended at a score of 29-37, leaving ONU with a lead of eight points.
The fourth quarter started out with five points added to ONU's score in the first two minutes of the quarter. The Yellow Jackets added points to the board at the 7:20 mark with a layup from Edwards. BW cut the lead down even further with a 3-point jump shot from Gabby Garrett. The remainder of the game showed a lot of back and forth scoring between the teams, but eventually ended with Ohio Northern pulling forward and ending the match at an 8-point lead.
The Yellow Jackets open up OAC Tournament action on Tuesday, March 2 with a quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. The semifinals will be hosted on the campuses of the highest remaining seed on March 4 at 7 p.m. and the tournament championship game will be contested on the campus of the highest remaining seed on March 6 at 3 p.m.
