Ohio knew the type of talent it would face when Tavelyn James made her visit to The Convo, but the team had no more luck corralling her than a weatherman has at stopping a storm.
James put her talents on display Wednesday night. She scored 29 of her team’s 63 points as Ohio (10-13, 3-6 Mid-American Conference) lost to Eastern Michigan 63-53.
After being limited to 11 points in the first half, James hit her stride after halftime. Olivia Fouty and Natachia Watkins ended in double figures as well.
Redshirt senior guard Tenishia Benson said she was impressed by James’ skill set and how Eastern Michigan has a knack for feeding her the ball.
“She’s the top player in the nation — period,” Benson said. “I don’t care who they play, she can score the ball. Her team does a very good job of getting her the ball where she can be successful.”
The Eagles used half-court pressure and double teams to create problems for the Bobcats early in the game, and it took the Bobcats offense some time to get settled.
In that time, Eastern Michigan stretched its lead to as many as 10 points with 12:26 to play in the first half, but Benson’s 12 first-half points helped narrow the gap.
Ohio trailed 33-26 at halftime, but the score could have been a lot more lopsided. The Eagles outscored the Bobcats 24-6 in the paint. That proved to be critical for Eastern Michigan, which only made two shots from beyond the arc in the first half.
After being held scoreless in the first half, sophomore guard Shavon Robinson scored 14 points in the second and helped to cut the deficit to three points in the process.
“She’s growing. She is a work in progress,” coach Semeka Randall said. “She is understanding that she has to mature as a basketball player. She has to step up and show up for this team every day.”
She added that it’s nice to see Robinson step up and to have Benson continue to do what she needs to do while freshman guard Mariah Byard contributes off the bench.
“It’d be great getting Porsha (Harris) back here and maybe get some flow here, get one game and go back and have a week of practice and individually gain some more confidence in what we do and go from there,” Randall said.
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