NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The Otterbein women's basketball team launched the official winter break with a comfortable win Saturday afternoon, leading another game wire-to-wire to depart with a 65-54 victory at Muskingum.

The Cardinals beat the Muskies for a 10th-straight time as a result, and get back over .500 on the season behind another balanced effort. Otterbein is now 4-3 overall and 2-1 against the league.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

• Otterbein led by just one point near the end of the first quarter, but a trifecta from senior Natalie Galaida beat the gun and have the Cards a 14-10 cushion entering the second.
   
• The Cardinals found a groove for a combine 41 points in the two middle frames, outscoring the Muskies 21-11 in the second period thanks to a 10-0 run midway through.
   
• A 14-point lead would be more than enough for Otterbein to glide in the second half, where the team always led by double digits and closed with (yet another) 10-0 run over the final two minutes.
   
• Otterbein subsequently held a  20-point cushion to start the fourth and never looked back, leading by 17 with a minute left before a pair of three-pointers from Muskingum shrunk the final margin.

STATS THAT MATTERED:

• Otterbein held a 34-16 scoring edge in the paint and posted a 38-26 rebounding advantage.
   
• Kathleen DeCarlo (14), Katie McCrary (11) and Olivia Majors (10) all scored in double figures.
   
• The Cards shot 12 of 13 from the charity stripe, including a perfect 6 for 6 effort from DeCarlo. Jenna Hoschouer had a team-high seven rebounds off the bench and continues leading Otterbein in the category this season.
   
• Claudia Harrington finished game-highs of 17 points and eight boards for Muskingum, which shot under 40% in all but one quarter.

LOOKING AHEAD:

• Otterbein will have a pair of road games next week, traveling to nationally-ranked Baldwin Wallace on Thursday night before a Sunday Funday against former assistant coach Mary Corbett at Kenyon.