Heading into Saturday’s game against Western Michigan, junior guard Shavon Robinson stressed that in order to earn the Bobcats’ first Mid-American Conference victory of the season, the team must play a completely different second half than the first.
Ohio played a different second half, but the result was not what Robinson envisioned. The Bobcats shot just 18 percent from the field, lost a five-point halftime lead and eventually the contest — extending the longest losing streak in program history to 11 games.
“I thought we executed extremely well,” Ohio coach Semeka Randall said. “I just challenged (the Bobcats) to focus on what we are looking at more in practice. We aren’t good enough to just show up and beat teams; we need to work and scrap to win games.”
With 13:29 remaining in the game, Ohio (5-18, 0-11 MAC) held a 43-37 lead and appeared to be on its way to snapping the losing streak. However, the Broncos completed the game on a 25-10 run, while the Bobcats went 11:20 without making a field goal, as they missed on 18 consecutive attempts.
Through 11 games, Ohio has played every MAC team but hasn’t outscored its opponent in the second half, which has resulted in the 11 consecutive losses.
“There is a little bit of frustration, but that just comes with the sport,” senior guard Symone Lyles said. “It’s a game of runs and it’s anybody’s game any night. We can’t dwell on it and have to work with the mistakes we’ve made.”
In the midst of the struggles, players have used the frustration from the losses as inspiration to improve their own game.
Robinson scored a team-high 16 points Saturday, while sophomore guard Mariah Byard added 13 points. Byard has now finished each of the past two games in double-digits after scoring 14 in the team’s previous game against Eastern Michigan.
The duo both missed action earlier in the season because of injuries, but has returned to form as of late.
If Ohio fails to win at least three of its final five games, Randall will clinch the lowest winning percentage in her five-year tenure at the helm of the Bobcats. She also has the lowest overall winning percentage in the program’s history, though she has coached the fourth-most games.
Two wins or less will also clinch the Bobcats’ worst conference record in program history, as the 1998-1999 Bobcats finished 2-14.
Five games remain before the MAC Tournament, all of which will be played against MAC East opponents and all but one being played against teams with winning records in MAC play.
The lone team with a sub-par record being Kent State, whose only conference victory came in the final seconds against Ohio. The Bobcats travel to Kent, Ohio to take on the Golden Flashes on Wednesday.
“We’re looking at every game like we want to win — we just want to get one,” Byard said. “Wednesday we’d really like to do that.”
cl027410@ohiou.edu
