In the midst of a four-game losing streak, the Bobcats were once again unable to close out a victory after a narrow 65-61 loss against Massachusetts on Thursday.
The four-point loss is the third straight game that Ohio (1-4) has been defeated by single digits, while UMass (2-5) snapped a five-game losing streak with the win. Ohio’s only lead in the game was 4-3.
“We made some adjustments to what UMass was doing, but I don’t know how we can get layups knocked down,” said coach Semeka Randall. “We need to believe that we can make plays. At times we allow the opponent to hit us, but don’t know how to hit back and adjust.”
The Bobcats committed a season-low 13 turnovers and scored 20 points off 19 Minutemen turnovers. However, Ohio shot just 33 percent from the field.
The lone bright spot on the Ohio offense was freshman guard Kiyanna Black, who had a breakout game, scoring 21 points after entering the game with 21 points total this season. She also recorded a team-high five assists.
In addition to Black’s performance off the bench, sophomore guard Kat Yelle made her first appearance in a Bobcat uniform since Dec. 18 of last season, when she suffered a season-ending injury.
“We’ll slowly start getting (Kat) back in and find minutes for her, there’s no point to rushing it right now,” Randall said. “We’re going to need good performances from everyone that comes off the bench and maybe not produce as many points as (Black) did today, but produces in all sorts of ways.”
Junior guard Shavon Robinson gathered 12 rebounds for the Bobcats, which is a career high, but she too suffered offensive woes. She finished 4-13 from the field, scoring just eight points.
The Bobcats are making less than 33 percent of their shots from the field through five games. Robinson, Ohio’s leading scorer of the season, said she needs to focus more on attacking the hoop in an effort to attempt layups or get fouled.
Ohio will be back in action Sunday against Detroit (3-3) in The Convo. The Titans are coming off a 40-point win against Western Michigan and are shooting 45 percent from the field.
“Detroit is a really good team and are coming off a big win against Western Michigan, so they aren’t going to feel bad for us,” Randall said. “They know how to win and we are still in the process of learning how to win.”
Detroit, which was picked to finished second in the Horizon League this season, has already played two Mid-American Conference teams this season.
Sophomore forward Shareta Brown leads the Titans, as she is averaging 24 points and nine boards per game, both of which are team highs. Detroit is out-rebounding its opponents by almost nine rebounds a game, while Ohio is being outrebounded by almost eight boards.
“We are undersized and know we aren’t the tallest team out there, so we need to work on offensive rebounds,” Robinson said. “We have people that like to shoot deep threes and we need to be aggressive and crash the boards more.”
QUICK STATS:
OHIO 61, UMass 65
— True freshman guard Kiyanna Black scored 21 points off the bench for Ohio.
— Bobcats lost their fourth straight game; third by single-digits.
— Ohio will play Detroit on Sunday, which is coming off a 40-point win against Western Michigan.
cl027410@ohiou.edu
