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WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The Otterbein women's basketball team fell 63-59 to undefeated No. 5 Ohio Northern who remains unbeaten in their home finale on Wednesday night. 

The Cardinals move  to 10-14 overall and 6-11 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play, with their final regular-season finale coming up Saturday at Mount Union to decide their qualification for the upcoming conference tournament.

Ohio Northern moves to 24-0 overall and 17-0 in OAC play with one game left between itself and a perfect regular-season. The last OAC team to post a perfect regular-season was the 1994-95 Capital University squad (33-0 overall, 18-0 OAC).

Otterbein held a 14-13 advantage after one quarter of action, as Ohio Northern's Courtney Cramer from Ohio Northern hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to pull the Polar Bears within a point. Junior Kiersten Taylor notched tallied seven points and four rebounds in a strong opening frame for the Cardinals.

The second quarter was back and forth as the two teams exchanged leads several times, with the most being a five-point margin in favor of the Polar Bears at the 4:11 mark, before a gritty effort by the Cardinals trimmed ONU's lead to 27-26 at the break. Sophomore Ali Cartnal checked in at halftime with 10 points, while Taylor followed with nine points and four boards.

Ohio Northern went on a 9-3 scoring run to open the second half of play, as the Cardinals were plagued with early fouls and turnovers. Otterbein trailed by 10 points with 2:29 left in the quarter before rallying to a just a six-point deficit heading into the final period.
 
Taylor and sophomore Dani Kissel rallied the Cardinals to begin the frame by combining for the team's first eight points, cutting the ONU advantage to one possession less than two minutes in. The Cardinals got the lead down to one point at the 4:39 mark as the Polar Bears picked up their fifth foul of the quarter, sending Cartnal to the foul line where she made both shots.

Ohio Northern then boosted their lead to as many as eight points, but late offensive fouls kept the Cardinals nipping at its heels. Otterbein kept the game within two possessions from the 1:54 mark, brining the lead down to one point with 15 seconds remaining before ONU made three of its final four foul shots to seal the win.

Taylor led the Cardinals with a double-double with a game high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting and a 5-of-9 mark from the charity stripe, while tying for a game-high 12 rebounds. Cartnal followed with 15 points and a team-best three assists, while Kissel finished with 10 points.