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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Cardinal women's basketball team suffered a 61-49 loss at the hands of Muskingum on Saturday afternoon in an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) matchup.

Otterbein (5-4 overall) move to an even 2-2 in league play and welcome a 12-day break from competition before the 38th-annual Smokey Ballenger Classic is held inside the Rike Center on Dec. 29-30. The women's squad will face Case Western on day one at 5 p.m., before taking on Calvin on day two at the same time.  

The women's team will host alongside the Otterbein men's hoops squad with full details, game program and matchups listed on the event page located here.

Otterbein took an 11-9 after two quarters as junior Dani Kissel scored seven of the team's points in the frame, as a slow start on both sides resulted in the slim advantage in favor of the Cardinals.

Muskingum (3-4 overall, 2-2 OAC) tied the game at 11 points apiece with the first basket of the second period as Dana Parkman, who notched eight points in the game, connected on a jumper in the paint.

The Muskies then took their first lead of the game less than a minute later on a layup and ensuing foul shot from Caitlyn Smith, before Kissel knocked down another jump shot for the Cards' first bucket of the quarter.

Kissel again helped lift the Cards by converting a game-tying jumper with 42 seconds left on the clock until halftime, before the Muskies made a late layup to take a two-point lead. Kissel led all scorers at the break with 13 points.

Otterbein regained the lead shortly into the second half as a layup by sophomore Delaney Cutteridge and a three-point play by Ali Cartnal put the Cards up 29-26 around the nine-minute mark.

The Cardinal offense went stagnate for the remainder of the quarter, scoring just six points, while the Muskies manufactured a 14-2 scoring run over the course of over four minutes. Otterbein tied the game during that stretch at 31 all but that proved to be the closest it would come to retaking the lead for the remainder of the contest.

Muskingum led by as many as 15 in both the third and four periods, while Otterbein made a late push to trim its deficit within eight points with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Kissel finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting, while also being extremely active under the basket with a team-best eight rebounds. Cartnal followed with 13 points, the majority coming from a 7-of-8 mark from the charity stripe, while also tallying six boards and four assists.

Muskingum's Olivia Besancon led all scorers with 20 points on 4-of-9 shooting along with a 10-of-11 mark from the foul line. The Muskies outrebounded the Cards 46-31 and shot 14 of 16 on free throws as a team.