ADA — Muskingum was able to hang around for a while.
Then, Ohio Northern turned the hose on the Muskies, taking them right out the side door of ONU’s King Horn Center.
Ohio Northern rolled to a 70-36 women’s basketball victory over Muskingum on Saturday.
“I think we came out focused and ready to go and we pounded them like we should,” ONU coach Michele Durand said. … But then, we have to continue that throughout the game. It shouldn’t matter what the score is.’’
Amy Bullimore led ONU with 17 points, 11 rebounds and a block. And she only played 20 minutes.
“We came out and we were focused and we ran what we do and executed well,” Bullimore said. “That’s part of our game, get inside-out looks.’’
Jenna Dirksen and Alyssa Manley (Bath) both scored eight points. Manley had two 3-pointers.
Lindsey Black had seven points and Emily Mescher (Marion Local) had six points.
Then, there was the ONU man defense, which guarded all the Muskingum players at the 3-point line.
Muskingum struggled to hit 23 percent from the field. The Muskies were 5 of 26 on 3-pointers.
“That’s what they like to shoot (threes),” Durand said. “I think our defense fuels our offense.’’
Added ONU defensive stopper Courtney Cramer, “We knew they were going shoot their shots. I think we were ready for that.’’
ONU shot 42 percent and was 6 of 19 on 3-pointers.
ONU also won the boards, 50-38.
It was ONU’s second straight win after suffering its first OAC loss of the year, 84-76 at Capital last Saturday.
“We have a high ceiling and we haven’t come close to reaching it yet,” Durand said. “I have high expectations for them.’’
ONU, ranked No. 15 in the nation in Division III, is 19-2, 13-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Muskingum is 6-15, 2-12 in the OAC.
With the win, first-place ONU maintained its two-game conference lead over second-place Marietta (11-3 OAC).
Bullimore (Little Miami High School) has powered the Polar Bears all year, averaging 16.8 points and 10 rebounds. She also had 38 blocks.
Through Saturday, Bullimore is ONU women’s all-time scorer (1,344 career points) and all-time rebounder (827). She ranks second in blocks (160).
ONU led 35-14 at the half after a strong inside game.
Muskingum came out in the third quarter on an 8-0 run to get within 37-22.
Back came Bullimore off the bench.
Bullimore scored on a driving 7-footer, a layup and a putback.
And when Black sank a 3-pointer, ONU was back to a cozy 46-26 lead with 42 seconds left in the third.
ONU played all 15 players on the roster by the time the game was over.
ONU went inside early to both the 6-foot-1 Bullimore and the 6-foot Mescher (Marion Local).
Muskingum had no answer for either ONU post player.
That helped the Polar Bears jump out to an early 14-4 lead. ONU hit seven of its first 13 shots.
ONU led 18-7 after the first quarter.
The Polar Bears then ripped off an 11-0 run to start the second quarter to pull out to a 29-7 lead.
ONU dominated down low and its defense was smothering Muskingum inside and out.
It was Cramer doing a lot of defensive work on the Muskies guard Olivia Besancon, who entered with a 17-point average.
Besacon finished with 12 points on 5 of 17 shooting.
“My goal was not to let her have her average,” Cramer said.
ONU has four regular-season games left, including Heidelberg at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at ONU.
“Last Saturday we gave up way more points that we have (84) and I think we started focusing more on the defensive end,” Bullimore. The last two games we’ve played really good defense.’’
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