Buffalo gave Ohio a run for its money in both teams’ Mid-American Conference opener, but it was the Bobcats who ended up taking the win to the bank, finishing off the Bulls 73-64.
With just under 13 minutes remaining, the Bobcats held a comfortable 12-point lead. However, Buffalo came clawing back behind the efforts of guard Brittney Hedderson, who contributed almost 40 percent of the team’s offensive production, leading all scorers with 25 points.
Freshman guard Mariah Byard finished with 21 points, more than four times her season average, while filling in for the injured Porsha Harris, who only played two minutes because of a knee injury.
Ohio coach Semeka Randall was impressed with her team’s well-rounded nature. There were four players who reached double digits in the point column.
“Now, one of the great things is that they are learning to play and feed off of one another’s energy,” Randall said.
“You just got a lot of things going for you when they’re playing to their strengths. We’ve had problems with that in past years because we’ve only had one piece. Now we’ve got a ton of pieces, and it’s a lot easier because we’re not solely relying on one person.”
The first half was paced by the Bobcats’ tenacity on the boards. Ohio pulled down eight offensive rebounds, as opposed to the Bulls’ one, finishing the half with seven second-chance points.
In the end, Ohio dominated the Bulls on the boards, grabbing 40 — 15 of which were on the offensive end.
The Bobcats moved to 8-7 with the win, opening MAC play with a victory for the first time since the 2008-09 squad downed Buffalo to lead off its conference slate.
Guard Tenishia Benson had 19 points, including 10 from the free-throw line where she has now gone 29 straight shots without a miss.
She said the win was a steppingstone toward accomplishing more lofty goals.
“It’s not just a verbal, you know, goal. It’s an action,” Benson said about her team’s commitment to MAC play. “So, the more we get better, the more we win, we put ourselves in a better position to win the MAC Championship.
“Today was just a small block of where we want to go, and we all know that,” she said. “We don’t want to jump too far ahead and then miss it.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
