WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Playing its first home game of the season, Otterbein earned a come-from-behind 79-73 victory over Muskingum Saturday afternoon in the Rike Center.

The win boosts the Cardinals to 3-6 on the season, and also allowed the team to notch its first conference victory, moving to 1-3 in league play.

With the loss, Muskingum falls to 4-4 overall and 0-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

The Muskies opened strong, taking a 20-8 lead at the 13:11 mark after a layup from Carissa Bosch.

OC battled back and closed to within two, at 30-28, when senior Katy Miller buried a jumper with 4:11 to play before the break.

Muskingum would score the next six points to extend its lead to 36-28, and would eventually take a 40-35 advantage into halftime.

A three-pointer from Cardinal guard Kristi Kotterman tied the game at 42-42 in the early stages of the second half, but Muskingum responded with five of the game’s next seven points to take a 49-44 edge with just under 15 minutes to play.

After the Muskies widened their lead to 60-51 at the 10:52 mark, Otterbein stormed back and cut the deficit to 62-60 after guard Karli Volkmer converted one of two free throws with 8:31 to play.

A jumper from sophomore point guard Shea McCoy with 5:54 to go tied the game at 65-65, and the Cards found themselves deadlocked at 67-67 moments later after a layup from Volkmer.

Having trailed all game, OC took its first lead with 4:38 showing on the game clock when Kotterman nailed a triple from the right wing.

Two Katie Stallard free throws and a Volkmer layup pushed the advantage to 74-69, and the Cards would eventually take a 79-73 victory.

Otterbein shot .414 from the field compared to .426 for the Muskies.

McCoy, playing her first career game in the Rike Center after transferring from Indiana Tech this offseason, led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

Miller totaled 15 points on 6-of-14 from the floor while Volkmer and Kotterman tallied 13 and ten points, respectively. Volkmer also snagged ten rebounds to notch a double-double.

Amanda Dobbins led Muskingum with 20 points while Bosch scored 19.

Otterbein returns to action next Saturday, traveling to take on Ohio Northern. Tip-off in Ada is set for 3 p.m.