The Otterbein women’s basketball team defeated the Mount Union Purple Raiders 80-57 in the OAC tournament semifinals Thursday night.
Connie Richardson’s squad hosted a Mount Union team who beat them twice in the regular season—77-62 in December and 62-56 on Feb. 2. Junior point guard Rosa LaMattina led both wins for the Purple Raiders as she averaged 23 points in the wins. LaMattina would need just 7 points in the game against Otterbein to set the school scoring record for women’s basketball at Mount Union.
Otterbein started the game on an 11-1 run and took immediate command. The game would be in Otterbein’s favor until the 2:52 mark in the first half when a Bridget Lyons lay-up would tie the score up at 24. After the lay-up, Otterbein proceeded to go on a 9- to- 2 run, as Senior Hannah Day made multiple trips to the line to take a 33-26 lead into the half for the Cards.
At this time LaMaittina was also scoreless for Mount Union. Otterbein came out firing in the second half as the Cardinals hit three quick three-point shots. Hannah Day made two and Madi Miller made the third. This would make the score 45-29, and Otterbein would ride this momentum to a 23-point win.
Senior Hannah Day led all scorers as she had 30 points for the Cardinals and got one step closer to 1000 for her career. She will need 15 points Saturday against Ohio Northern in the OAC championship game to hit 1000.
This win is only the second time that Otterbein has been to the OAC championship under Richardson. The last time was the 2003-2004 season when Otterbein played Wilmington and lost. The Quakers went on to win the National Championship that year.
The OAC championship game will be held at Ohio Northern on Saturday night. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. Ohio Northern is ranked 4th in the country and defeated Otterbein in both of their matchups this season. A win at Ohio Northern will give Richardson her first NCAA tournament berth.
Check out more photos from the action here.
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