Quiera Lampkins didn’t have a lot of pressure on her tonight.
For most of the season, her team has relied on her, points-wise, to pull the team through. That wasn’t the case Wednesday night.
“I think what some people who are in the stands watching don’t realize is even if (Lampkins) isn’t scoring, she’s doing a lot,” Katie Barker said after the game. "(She) attracts the defense all the time, she’s getting double-teamed, she’s attracting the post … so even if (she) doesn’t have her 20-30 points a game, she’s still doing so much for our team.”
A lot of Lampkins' production, as a result of Western Michigan's defensive scheme, was setting up players, specifically Barker and Hannah Boesinger.
With Lampkins facing foul trouble, the pressure on the bench to hold the lead grew. But coach Bob Boldon trusted Boesinger and Barker to finish the game, and they did just that, giving Ohio its third-straight win, 80-67, Wednesday night in The Convo.
Boesinger had an immediate impact on the game as soon as Weatherspoon went out. At half, she had 11 points and shot 100 percent from the field, 2-of-2 from 3 and 4-of-4 overall. Between her and Barker’s bench production, Ohio had a 16-point lead at halftime.
“I saw Jas (Weatherspoon) go out, so I was kind of scared about that first and foremost,” Boesinger said after the game. “But I knew from there I had to fill her spot a little bit and really work hard on defense to stop the post and also kind of fill the gap on offense and score a little bit.”
She accomplished both.
Western is dominant in the post — that was a big focus for the Bobcats (15-4, 6-2 Mid-American Conference) going into Wednesday night. What they didn’t plan on was their best post defender getting knocked out of the game a quarter into it.
The other big thing Boesinger was able to do was stay out of foul trouble for most of the game. She leads the team with 68 fouls this season, and though she ended up with four fouls, she remained composed enough to not foul out.
The other offensive spurt for Ohio came from Barker.
After allowing Western Michigan to get back into the game after the half, Ohio had just a slim six-point lead going into the final quarter.
With Ohio fearful of giving the game to Western Michigan, Barker hit back-to-back 3-pointers, extending Ohio’s lead to nine and collecting her third 18-point game of the season.
“It brings so much excitement to us,” Boesinger said. “When I see her make a three, I get like so excited. When she hits a three, it’s always changing the game. We usually get up by a few more, and she continues to make them. It changes the game, which is nice.”
Weatherspoon’s injury is going to hurt the Bobcats.
Though Boesinger has done well with providing crucial minutes off the bench recently, Weatherspoon’s absence is going to be noticeable. Boldon hasn’t had much trouble with depth the past couple of years, though. Now's the time he needs to prove it, even with Lampkins as his primary option.
“It helps us develop as a team, gets us a little more well-rounded,” Boldon said of his team’s depth.
