On fire doesn’t begin to describe the Bobcats’ shooting performance on Monday.
From the first possession, Ohio found its rythym from beyond the arc, as sophomore guard Kat Yelle knocked down the Bobcats' first of 19 three-makes, which broke a Mid-American Conference record.
Ohio (5-6) defeated Maryland-Baltimore County 84-36 in a game it dominated almost every statistical category. The Bobcats were led by another big performance from sophomore guard Kiyanna Black, who was nearly flawless (six of seven) from the floor and she finished with 18 points, including five makes from downtown.
During the first game of the James Madison Invitational on Sunday, Ohio struggled finding the bottom of the net and scored just 33 points. But by halftime Monday, the Bobcats had scored 51 points against the Retreivers (1-11) en route to their largest margin of victory since defeating Hofstra by 51 points on Dec. 27, 1991.
“I thought the (Bobcats) did a great job responding,” coach Bob Boldon. “They really deserve it after the struggles we’ve had not just (on Sunday), but the last couple of games scoring the basketball. It was nice to see some shots go in.”
Not only did Ohio finish with its most impressive shooting performance of the season, they also held UMBC to its lowest scoring output of the season. The Retrievers shot just 32 percent from the field and had difficulties penetrating Ohio’s defense.
“I was thrilled with our defensive effort,” Boldon said. “UMBC runs the Princeton offense and that can be difficult to guard, especially when you only have a couple hours to get ready for it. I thought in shoot around they were really sharp. ECU runs a version of it, so we got to guard it a couple weeks ago and I thought the carryover was really good.”
This victory wrapped up the non-conference slate for the Bobcats, which will start MAC play on the road Saturday against Northern Illinois. Ohio has already played nine of its 11 games away from The Convo.
In his first season at the helm, Boldon is only one victory away from equaling the team’s total win count from a last season at six games, despite the Bobcats having played a tough non-conference schedule.
“As the MAC season opens we’ll find out just how much we learned,” Boldon said. “We’ve been away from home a lot, we’ve played a number of teams in the top 50 RPI-wise and have seen a number of different offences and defenses. Hopefully it prepares us well for what’s to come in January.”
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