Season Ends With Loss at Walsh
North Canton, OH - The University of Findlay women's basketball team ended their season with a 61-53 loss on Thursday, Feb. 23 at Walsh University. With the loss, the Oilers' season ends with a 13-15 record overall and a 7-13 mark in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play, good for a tenth place finish in the conference. The Cavs will head into the GLIAC tournament as the eighth seed and will play Ashland in the opening round.
The Oilers trailed by just a point after the first quarter at 13-12 but the Cavaliers used a 16-4 run to explode out to a 29-16 lead with six minutes to play in the half. By the break, Walsh held a 35-21 advantage on the strength of seven steals.
Findlay came out of the break with momentum and rallied to get as close as three points at 40-37 with 45 seconds left in the third quarter, but the home team would outscore the Oilers 17-16 in the final frame to end the game and season for the Orange and Black.
At game's end, Walsh had 11 steals and forced 20 Findlay turnovers that led to 15 points. Findlay forced 17 turnovers but turned those opportunities into just seven points. Rebounds were fairly even at 39-38 in the Cavaliers' favor and shooting percentages were also close with Findlay hitting 21-of-59 (35.6%) and Walsh making 21-of-54 (38.9%). The difference came at the charity stripe where the Cavs picked up 17 points to just nine for the Oilers.
Junior Lynsey Englebrecht was the leading scorer for Findlay as she picked up 11 points off the bench. She made 4-of-11 from the floor, hit a pair of free throws, and had three rebounds. Junior Haley Horstman also reached double-figures with ten points on 5-of-11 from the floor. She picked up four rebounds, an assist, and a block.
Sophomore Elissa Ellerbrock led Findlay with seven rebounds and she also chipped in six points. Sophomores Christa Puthoff and Anna Hintz each scored four points for the Oilers while grabbing six and five rebounds, respectively.
Playing in her final game with Findlay, senior Karli Bonar scored two points and was held scoreless from behind the arc. She ends her career as the Oilers' all-time leading three-point shooter with 260 made threes, 28 more than the previous record. Bonar scored 944 points in her career, grabbed 210 rebounds, had 132 assists, and 119 steals.