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ADA, Ohio – The second-seeded Otterbein University women’s basketball came up short in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament championship Saturday evening, falling 73-46 at No. 1 seed Ohio Northern University.

The Polar Bears, now 26-1 and ranked third nationally, will receive the league’s automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament while Otterbein (21-6) waits to see if it will earn at an-large bid.

The tournament’s selection show will air on NCAA.com Monday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

“I think we deserve a chance,” Richardson said of possibly receiving an at-large bid. “I thought it was awful last year when Northern didn’t make it. Not many conferences across the country can say they have seven teams with a winning record, so I think our 21 wins speak for themselves.”

“I’m so proud of our seniors, not just as players, but people as well,” Richardson continued. “This team was picked to finish fifth in the conference preseason poll, but nobody in our locker room accepted that. I don’t think anyone thought these girls would be playing in this championship game tonight, but we did.”

Ohio Northern jumped out to an early 18-8 lead behind an energetic home crowd, forcing an Otterbein timeout.

The Polar Bears widened the lead to 31-16 by the 7:06 mark, but Otterbein hung tough and entered halftime down 39-29.

Ohio Northern hit 13 of its first 19 shots before cooling off a bit, finishing the half 15 of 30 from the field compared to the Cardinals’ 11 of 28 effort (.393). The Polar Bears held a 17-0 edge in bench scoring over the first 20 minutes.

ONU stayed hot and blew the lead open to 51-29 just minutes into the second half, and Otterbein would be forced to play catch up the remainder of the game as a result.

Senior Allie Leopard led the Cardinal offense with 12 points while classmate Hannah Day finished with eight on 3 of 15 shooting, moving to 993 points for her career. Both players were named to the All-Tournament team.

The Polar Bears shot .492 from the field for the contest compared to Otterbein’s .340 mark. The Cards committed 17 turnovers and made just 3 of 18 shots from beyond the arc.

Ohio Northern finished with a 30-9 advantage in bench scoring and a 16-4 edge in points off turnovers.