WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Otterbein, now 7-10 overall, notched a key Ohio Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon by defeating Ohio Northern 79-72 in the Rike Center.

The win puts Otterbein at 4-6 in league play, while the loss drops the Polar Bears to 10-7 on the season and 5-5 in OAC action.

The Cardinals have now won four-straight over Ohio Northern, dating back to last season.

Ohio Northern cut an early Otterbein lead to 12-11, but the Cardinals countered with a quick 9-0 run to take a 21-11 lead after a three-pointer from point guard Shea McCoy at the 12:52 mark.

The Polar Bears fought back and drew to within five, at 25-20, when Kara Dysert converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 8:58 to go before the break.

OC continued its hot shooting from the field, and eventually took a 44-34 lead into halftime.

The Cardinals made 11 of their first 13 shot attempts en route to shooting .636 (21 of 33) over the first stanza. 

Sophomore guard Kristi Kotterman shot a blistering 9 of 13 in the first half, totaling 18 points by intermission.

ONU began the second half on a 13-0 run, taking a 47-44 lead with 16:12 showing on the game clock.

Otterbein quickly countered after a timeout, scoring 12 of the game’s next 14 points to take a 56-46 advantage with 11:52 to play.

The Cards held between a two and six point advantage down the stretch, with Northern closing to within two, at 65-63, with 5:15 to go.

Back-to-back layups from Hannah Day and Allison Huettel pushed Otterbein’s lead to 69-63, and the team never looked back en route to the 79-72 victory.

Kotterman scored just two points in the second half, but it was enough to tie with McCoy for a game-high 20 points. McCoy, the OAC’s leader in field-goal percentage, made 7-of-11 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from long distance. She also dished out a season-high seven assists.

Senior Katy Miller tallied 16 points, and now sits just ten shy of achieving 1,000 for her career.

ONU leading scorer Jeanne Bockey led the Polar Bears with 17 points on 7-of -9 shooting. She scored her team’s first nine points of the game.

Both teams cooled off in the second half, as Otterbein shot .493 from the field for the contest compared to .453 for Ohio Northern.

ONU shot a near perfect 18-of-19 from the line as opposed to the Cardinals’ 9-of-16 effort at the charity stripe.

Otterbein, in the midst of a four-game home stand, host Heidelberg Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m.