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The Capital University women's basketball team kept pace with the fourth-ranked team in the nation through the first 10 minutes Saturday, but were unable to maintain the push in a 77-42 setback at Ohio Northern in the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season finale for both teams in Ada, Ohio.

The Crusaders (14-11 overall, 9-9 OAC) will host either Heidelberg or Muskingum as the fifth seed in the OAC Tournament on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Capital Center. After all tiebreakers ended evenly between the 'Berg and the Muskies, the OAC will flip a coin to determine the No. 8 seed, per conference tournament rules.

The Crusaders shot just 25.4 percent while the Polar Bears (24-1, 18-0), the regular season league champion and No. 1 seed in the OAC Tournament, made 51.8 percent of their attempts.

Freshman forward Kristen Thompson (Cincinnati, Ohio; above) led Capital with 13 points (7-of-8 free throws) and six rebounds. Senior forward Stacy Timmerman (New Bremen, Ohio) tallied 12 points and five rebounds.

"We played a good first half, but unfortunately ran out of gas in the second," Capital coach Dixie Jeffers said. "Kristen Thompson played the best game of her career, which was the silver lining for us."

The Crusaders, who never led in the contest, trailed 15-12 with 10:31 to play in the first half after a jumper by junior guard Cookie Geroski (Fostoria, Ohio), who finished the game with eight points. Ohio Northern pulled ahead by 10 with a 7-0 run and went into the locker room with a 34-20 halftime advantage.

Capital battled evenly with the Polar Bears through the opening minutes of the second half before falling behind by 21 at the 12:07 mark. The Crusaders got no closer the rest of the way.

Capital was shut out from 3-point range (0-for-7) for just the second time this season.