Despite being a team that normally tries to use its streaky scoring to win games, Ohio flexed its defensive muscle to capture its second Mid-American Conference win on Sunday against Western Michigan.
With only eight players in uniform, the Bobcats (7-7, 2-1 MAC) grinded out a 70-53 victory against a significantly taller Broncos team.
The normally-lethal shooting from long distance by the Bobcats managed to shoot just 21 percent from the field. With this poor shooting performance Ohio instead got the job done on the defensive side by limiting Western Michigan (6-8, 2-1 MAC) to a 35 percent shooting performance.
Despite being undersized, Ohio dominated the game in the post, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds leading to 12 second-chance opportunities. The Bobcats also scored 30 points in paint while limiting the Broncos to only 20 points.
The Broncos are a team that likes to get out on the fast break and score points. The Bobcats didn’t allow them to score a single point on the break and limited their potent offense all night long.
“I thought defensively that was as good as we’ve played, but we got a little sloppy the last couple of minutes,” coach Bob Boldon said. “We gave them a couple easy chances and to their credit they knocked them down, but I thought for 30-35 minutes I thought we were great defensively.”
Offensively, Ohio was paced by freshman guard Quiera Lampkins in the first half when she scored 12 of her 19 points. Sophomore guard Kiyanna Black picked up where Lampkins left off as she provided the Bobcats with a go-to scorer down the stretch to seal the game. Black scored 15 of her 29 in the second half including all four of Ohio’s threes.
Black had to pick up some of the slack from the three-point arc as junior guard Mariah Byard, who has been hot from the field of late scoring 15 points per game in her last three outings, was out with an injury.
Defense paced the game for Ohio and lead to many of their opportunities on the offensive side; 17 of their points came off of Bronco turnovers.
“I think any time we play good defense it leads to good offense,” Black said. “So, we have to start playing good defense and that will lead to good offense.”
With the victory, the Bobcats have already matched their overall and MAC win totals from last season.
“The biggest improvement is our coaching staff. They really get us ready for the games and I think we really have a lot of players that want to win. It’s easier to play this year than last year,” Black said.
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