Bonar's Second Half Propels Oilers

Fort Lauderdale, FL – The University of Findlay women's basketball team improved to 8-1 on the season with a 68-61, non-conference win over Saint Leo University on Thursday, Dec. 17. This marks the best start for the Oilers since the 1999-00 season where the team began 9-0 before losing their first game. That team went on to finish 27-4 and made it to the fourth round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) tournament.

Findlay struggled early in the contest and fell behind as the teams headed to the locker rooms at halftime, but a strong second half from junior Karli Bonar propelled the Oilers to victory.

Bonar led the Orange and Black in the contest as she scored 16 points, all of which came in the second half. She buried a trio of three-point shots and shot 5-11 from the floor in the victory.

Senior Margaret Wuebker and sophomore Lynsey Englebrecht scored 12 points each for the Oilers. They also combined for 10 rebounds with Wuebker grabbing six and Englebrecht collecting four.

Playing a big role yet again was senior Kelsey Lewis who picked up a double-double in the win as she scored 11 points and corralled 10 boards. She also led the team with three steals.

As a team, Findlay, which was out-rebounded 43-34, only shot 37.7% (20-53) from the floor, but managed to hit 50% (6-12) from the three-point line led by Englebrecht who was 3-3 from deep.  

Taking advantage of turnovers was a major factor in this game as the Oilers scored 22 points off the 18 turnovers they forced. They only allowed 11 points off turnovers.

Findlay has as short turn-around as they are back on the court tomorrow morning, Dec. 18, at 10:00am. They will take on Embry-Riddle in the first ever matchup between the two schools.