Box Score

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Cardinal women's basketball team snapped its two-game losing skid with a 66-57 defeat of Mount Union Saturday afternoon inside the Rike Center in an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) matchup.

Otterbein (6-7 overall) improves to 2-4 in league play and is now set to travel to John Carroll next Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off in University Heights, Ohio.

The Cardinals enjoyed a 21-13 lead after one quarter behind six points from guard Ali Cartnal, before taking their largest lead of the half at nine points following a three-pointer by fellow guard Dani Kissel with 6:30 left until halftime.

Mount Union then rattled off eight-straight points to trim its deficit to 26-25 before taking its first lead of the game with 1:07 remaining. The Raiders' Casey Morrissette sank two free throws with less than 30 seconds on the clock to give her team a 36-34 lead the break.

Forward Kiersten Taylor led the Cards through the first 20 minutes with 11 points and five rebounds, which shot just over 37 percent. Mount Union was in turn held to a 33.3 percent mark from the field.

A made jumper by forward Taylor Pifher opened the scoring for the second half and tied the game at 36 apiece, while the two sides also saw a tie at 44 all at the 3:53 mark.

Otterbein opened the final frame with a three-point lead intact and did not allow the Purple Raiders to recover. Mount Union cut its deficit to one point with 7:33 remaining before the Cards manufactured a 9-0 run to go ahead for good by double-digits.

Taylor led the game in scoring after tying a career-high 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. Cartnal, who notched a season-high 19 points, knocked down four three-pointers and converted all seven foul shots.

Guard Abby Miduri chipped in 11 points for the Cards which shot 38.3 percent for the game and connected on 15-of-18 foul shots as a team.