Rinehart and Culbertson both set school records for Women's Basketball in 70-67 loss to Mount Union

Alisha Rinehart

By Steven Wright

| Box Score | 

ADA - Seniors Alisha Rinehart and Emily Culbertson each cemented their spot in Ohio Northern women's basketball history, as Rinehart became the school's all-time leading scorer and Culbertson became the all-time leader in assists in a losing effort at home to Mount Union 70-67 Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.

The loss drops the Polar Bears to 9-16 overall and the team finished Ohio Athletic Conference regular season play at 7-11. The Purple Raiders improve to 16-8, 11-7. 

Rinehart now has 1,221 points for her career and passed Robin Patterson who previously held the record with 1,207 career points from 1981-84. 

She led the Polar Bears with 18 points, connecting on four 3-pointers and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. 

Culbertson took over sole possession atop the assist leaderboard with 222 over her career. She ended the game with a season-high six assists on the afternoon. 

Culbertson also added five steals in the contest to give her 178 steals for her career. That number puts her in second place all-time, just one steal away from tying the ONU all-time record. 

Freshman Kara Dysert was the only other Northern player with double-digits, as she poured in 16 points and grabbed six boards. 

Ohio Northern made a valiant comeback effort at the end of the game, erasing a six-point deficit at 67-61 with just 57 seconds to go in the game. 

Culbertson found Rinehart for 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 67-67 with 28 seconds remaining. 

A Polar Bear foul with 19 seconds allowed Mount Union to to go up one point after hitting 1-of-2 free throws. 

After an empty possession, Northern was forced to foul once more and MUC connected on both free throws to take a 70-67 lead. 

Culbertson hoisted a 3-pointer at the buzzer but was blocked by a Mount Union player to end the game. 

Ohio Northern led by as many as nine points in the first half after freshman Ericka Holcomb hit a jumper with 6:17 to go in the half to go up 28-19. 

The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the half, as ONU held onto a six-point lead. 

Mount Union took its first lead of the second half at 37-36 after beginning the first 3:23 on a 9-2 run. 

With 6:47 left in the game, MUC grabbed the lead and would never trail again. 

The Purple Raiders were led Tessa Pohovey who had 22 points and nine boards. Amanda Rose also had a solid game, recording a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. 

Ohio Northern will be the No. 8-seed in the OAC Tournament which will begin on Tuesday.