TIFFIN, Ohio – The Otterbein women's basketball team cruised back into the win column on Saturday afternoon, opening a sizeable lead after three quarters and eventually departing Heidelberg with an 82-74 decision.

The victory gets Otterbein (besting Heidelberg for the 11th time in a row) back over .500 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, with the Cardinals now 2-1 in the league on this young campaign.

HOW IT WENT DOWN:

The opening quarter featured multiple ties before Otterbein ended the frame on a 6-0 run, and carried that momentum into the second as senior Olivia Majors buried a three-pointer in the opening seconds.

That bucket gave the Cardinals a 21-12 lead, which was extended to double digits shortly thereafter and later reached as many as 16. However, the 'Berg closed the half strong and only trailed by nine (37-28) entering the break.

Otterbein regrouped and erupted offensively in the third, dropping 25 points in the frame and finding itself up 59-39 at one point. Senior Claire Radabaugh scored 10 herself in the quarter.

The Cardinals led by 15 points with 4:24 left in the game, but Heidelberg never stopped playing and shrunk the gap to just five (75-70) with a full minute to go. Otterbein was able to convert 7 of 10 free throws down the stretch to hold on.

BOX SCORE LOOK:

Otterbein held considerable edges in bench scoring (29-15) and points off turnovers (24-11), forcing 18 Heidelberg giveaways on the afternoon.

The Cardinals made nine shots from behind the arc to match a season-high, also occurring in the opener against Kenyon. Otterbein was 38 percent in the category while the Student Princes were just 6 of 20.

A balanced scoring effort guided the Cardinals, as eight different players tallied between 7-14 points. Five of those reached double figures behind 14 from Majors. Newcomer Kyla Irby scored 11 (in just 11 minutes) off the bench.

Maizie King did a little bit of everything across the floor en route to eight rebounds, seven points, four assists and two steals.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The Cards will play a non-conference game at Wittenberg this coming Tuesday before hosting Baldwin Wallace in a return to OAC play next weekend. The contest with BW will mark the long-awaited home opener after spending (what will be) eight games on the road to begin 2023-24.