TIFFIN, Ohio—The Heidelberg University women’s basketball team will continue its home stand Wednesday, Jan. 11 by hosting Otterbein University in an Ohio Athletic Conference game at Seiberling Gymnasium in Tiffin, Ohio in the second game of a four-game home stand. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.
Live stats for the contest will be available at http://www.heidelberg.edu/statcrew/wbb/xlive.htm.
The Berg (4-9, 1-5 OAC) has won two of its last three games, including an 80-79 win over Marietta College (Jan. 7), in which sophomore guard and reigning OAC player of the week Kathleen Phillips (Sandusky/St. Mary’s) poured in a game and career-high 36 points—falling just one point shy of the school single-game record—and made the game-winning basket with three seconds left, as Heidelberg snapped a 24-game OAC losing streak dating back to 2010.
Phillips leads the OAC and ranks 17th nationally in scoring at 19.9 points per game, is tied for fifth in the league with an 81.3 (65-of-80) free throw percentage and is sixth with 2.2 steals per game. Sophomore guard Megan Miller (Tiffin/Columbian) scores 8.2 ppg. and leads the team with 4.5 rebounds per game. The ‘Berg’s outside attack is led by sophomore guard Emily Giel (Burton/Burkshire), who shoots 31.8 percent (21-of-66) from three-point range. Heidelberg averages 61.5 ppg. and 36.0 rpg. while shooting 34.0 percent from the field and 67.6 percent from the free throw line.
Sitting in a tie for ninth place in the league standings, a win in tomorrow’s game and a John Carroll University loss to Muskingum University can move the Berg into a tie for eighth place.
Otterbein (11-3, 5-2 OAC) enters the match-up in a tie for second place in the league standings. The Cardinals snapped a two-game losing slide in their last game, a 71-57 win at Muskingum (Jan. 7). Hannah Day guided the attack with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Kristi Kotterman and Rachel Snedegar each tallied 12 markers.
Kotterman is second in the OAC with 15.4 ppg. and fourth with a 39.7 (25-of-63) three point field goal percentage. Snedegar scores 8.3 ppg., is fifth in the conference with 8.1 rpg. and seventh with a 47.0 (47-of-100) field goal percentage. The Cardinals boast the OAC’s second-highest scoring offense (67.9 ppg.,) and three point field goal percentage (30.3) and third-best shooting percentage overall (40.4), with four of five starters shooting above the 40.0 percent clip. Otterbein also averages 42.0 rpg. and shoots 63.4 percent from the charity stripe.
Last season, Otterbein swept the season series, taking a 62-44 win in Westerville on Jan. 12, 2011 and a 67-65 decision in Tiffin on Feb. 16, 2011. Phillips averaged 14.5 ppg. in two games against the Cardinals, while Shea McCoy and Kotterman averaged 14.0 ppg. and 13.0 ppg., respectively. The Cardinals have won six straight games in the series and are 8-2 in the last 10 meetings between the two teams.
Following Wednesday’s game, the Berg will host No. 12 University of Mount Union on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3 p.m.