Otterbein women catch fire

Otterbein had been a maddening team of highs and lows for most of the season until coach Connie Richardson decided to give the players some straight talk.

It was a speech Richardson has made numerous times in her 21 seasons, but it was a cold bucket of water to the face of the players who never heard it. The Cardinals (17-6, 11-5) have responded by winning three straight games, including one over rival Capital, to rise to third in the Ohio Athletic Conference with games remaining against Heidelberg at home on Wednesday and at Wilmington on Saturday.

“It was matter of fact,” Richardson said. “I told them, ‘This is where we are and this is where we have a chance to go.’ I told the seniors in particular, ‘This is it for you. I’m still going to be here next year and you won’t.’ They have responded.”

Mount Union (22-1, 15-1) has won the championship and will play host to the OAC tournament.

Otterbein is trying to nail down the third seed, which will mean a first-round bye and a home game in the second round. The Cardinals lead Baldwin-Wallace and Capital by one game.

Richardson said several factors might have contributed to the Cardinals playing hot and cold.

“We switched to semesters from quarters this year and I think it threw us out of our routine,” she said. “It was a learning experience for the kids and coaches. It was a four-week period (in December) when no one was on their regular schedules. Some were working, some were taking classes and some were doing nothing. We also were on the road for almost the entire month of January. It was, ‘Welcome to the real world.’ We had to chug, chug, chug.”

Then in game No. 19, junior forward Rachel Snedegar of Pickerington North suffered a broken finger on her right (shooting) hand and underwent surgery.

Otterbein is forcing 17.2 turnovers per game and limiting opponents to 36.3 percent shooting (29.0 percent from three-point range).

The team is led by senior guard Kristi Kotterman (14.4 points), senior point guard Shea McCoy (11.7) and junior forward Hannah Day (9.7).

Capital men seek rebound

The OAC men’s race turned into a free-for-all when Baldwin-Wallace defeated Capital 75-64 on Saturday in Berea.

Capital’s two-game lead was halved with two games remaining in the regular season. They are 12-4 and lead John Carroll and defending champion Marietta by one game and Baldwin-Wallace and Wilmington by two games.

The regular-season champion plays host to the conference tournament. This season, the top two seeds receive byes into the semifinal round.

“It never works out that way that things are easy, does it?” Capital coach Damon Goodwin said. “We had a tough game and we got beat by a good Baldwin-Wallace team. Now, we have another challenge, a championship-type game, at Marietta on Wednesday.”

Capital won the first meeting 82-66 on Jan. 11 in Bexley.

Ohio facing gut check

All signs pointed toward Ohio University being the second-best team in the Mid-American Conference behind Akron going into last week’s games.

The walls tumbled with a 77-73 loss at Toledo and a 68-55 loss at Eastern Michigan.

Just like that, the Bobcats (19-6, 7-4) are in a fight for one of the all-important top four seeds into the MAC tournament. The top two seeds receive byes to the semifinal round and the third and fourth seeds receive first-round byes.

“It was a tough week for us,’’ coach John Groce said. “We’ll see if we can get regrouped.’’

Akron (10-1) has a one-game lead over Buffalo (9-2), a two-game lead over Kent State (8-3) and a three-game lead over Ohio and Bowling Green in the East Division. Eastern Michigan leads the West with a 6-5 record.

Ohio faces something of a must-win game against Bowling Green on Wednesday at the Convocation Center.

The Falcons won the first meeting, and a second victory would give them the tiebreaker for the conference tournament. Eastern Michigan has the tiebreaker over Ohio because the teams meet once.

The stretch run is brutal for the Bobcats, with games at Buffalo, Kent State and Miami University. The only home game is against Akron.

Reynolds to be honored

Exact plans have not been revealed, but Otterbein will honor retiring men’s coach Dick Reynolds before, during and after his final home game, on Saturday against Wilmington.

Reynolds, 68, has compiled a 652-424 record in 40 years at his alma mater. He has won 11 regular-season and eight OAC championships and sent 13 teams to the NCAA Division III tournament.

In 2002, the Cardinals won the national championship behind Jeff Gibbs and Kevin Shay. It was the team’s third trip to the Final Four.

mznidar@dispatch.com