ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's women's basketball team lost an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup 61-53 on Saturday evening.
The Purple Raiders (7-3, 0-2 OAC) had two players score in double figures with junior
Elizabeth Mason (Alliance / Marlington) leading the way with a game-high 20 points and freshman
Bree McCabe (Massillon / Tuslaw) added in 10 points.
The Cardinals (5-2, 1-0 OAC) were led by Mattie Walburn who also scored a game-high 20 points.
Mount Union would jump out to a quick 6-2 lead over the first 2:29 of game time before Otterbein would answer with a 15-3 run over the next seven and half minutes of the first quarter and ended the first quarter with a 17-9 lead.
The Raiders would outscore the Cardinals 11-6 over the first seven minutes of the second quarter to cut the lead down to a three-point 23-20 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. However, Otterbein would close the quarter with a 9-0 run of their own to stretch their lead to the largest of the game at 32-20 heading into the halftime break.
Otterbein would open the third quarter with a 7-3 run over the first 3:11 of game time to stretch their lead to 16, the Raider would answer with an 8-2 run of their own over the next two and a half minutes to cut the lead to 41-31 with just under five minutes to play in the quarter. The teams would go back and forth over the final five minutes of the quarter as the Cardinals would head to the fourth with a 12-point 50-38 lead.
Mount Union would open the final quarter with a 10-2 run over the first 5:20 of action to cut the lead to 52-48 with 4:42 remaining in the game. The Cardinals would answer with a 7-2 run of their own over the next 3:56 of game time to push the lead back out to nine with just 46 seconds left to play. The Raiders would cut the lead to six in the final minute but that's as close as they would get as Otterbein would go on to win 61-53.
The Raiders hit the road next when they travel to New Concord on Saturday, December 13 to take on OAC opponent Muskingum at 4 p.m.
