ALLIANCE, OHIO – The Otterbein University women’s basketball team (11-15), seeded eighth, ended its season Tuesday evening with a 70-52 loss at top-seeded Mount Union (23-3) in the opening round of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament.

Mount Union, ranked 17th nationally, moves on to play John Carroll University in a semi-final matchup.

Mount hopped out to an early 10-4 lead, but the Cards would score the next eight points to take a 12-10 lead by the 8:47 mark.

The Raiders bounced back to grab a 20-15 lead, but Otterbein hung close and went into the half down just 25-22.

Mount hit the glass hard in the first half, pulling down 11 offensive rebounds but found themselves unable to convert many of the extra opportunities, shooting just 8-of-32.

The Cards connected on 10-of-26 attempts from the floor over the first 20 minutes, but turned the ball over nine times.

Otterbein used the hot shooting of sophomore Hannah Day, who buried three consecutive three-pointers from the right corner, to grab a 39-35 lead by the 14:29 mark of the second half.

The hosts, however, would counter with a 10-0 run spanning less than three minutes to jump back on top 45-39.

Day connected on her fourth trifecta of the half during the next Cardinal possession, but Mount sustained its momentum and vaulted to a 52-44 lead with 8:28 remaining as part of a 17-5 scoring spurt.

A layup from freshman Brooke Robbins put a temporary halt to the Mount Union run, but the Raiders pushed the margin to its largest of the game, at 57-47, after a three-pointer with 5:06 showing on the game clock.

Mount would remain in control down the stretch en route to the victory.

Kristi Kotterman led Otterbein with 15 points while Day finished with 14.

Otterbein shot .386 for the contest compared to .414 for the Purple and White.