The Bobcats shoot three-pointers and attempt them often.
But because of Ohio’s (8-8, 3-2 Mid-American Conference) inconsistencies from beyond the arc, Coach Bob Boldon gets frustrated when the topic is brought up.
“If we run down those offensive rebounds and kick it to our outside shooter and she makes it, everybody thinks, ‘Oh, that’s great.’ But if you kick it out to her and she misses it, everybody says, ‘Why do you shoot so many threes?’” Boldon said.
With just three players taller than six-feet, it’s no secret that Ohio lacks size. To make up for it, the Bobcats’ offense focuses on playing around the perimeter and firing shots from downtown.
Sophomore guard Kiyanna Black leads the Bobcats in scoring with an average of 13.5 points per game. Although she has taken more than one-fifth of the team’s total shots (208 of 932), Black’s offensive prowess is behind the arc, where 63.4 percent of her attempts have fallen.
Despite battling through injuries, junior guard Mariah Byard was also a key with the trifecta, as she has made 35 percent of her three-pointers after attempting almost 100.
Throughout the 2013-14 campaign, one player who has stood out has been freshman guard Quiera Lampkins. Along with starting each of Ohio’s 16 games, Lampkins is second on the team in points per game and rebounds with 10 and five, respectively.
“Lampkins) really played well for us,” Boldon said. “I like her mentality. And that to me kind of answers the question about weary legs because (she’s) played as much as anybody’s played yet she had plenty of energy (vs. Ball State).”
But what Boldon has stressed lately is more improvement overall as a unit.
“The nice thing about not being real good is that you have plenty of things to work on,” Boldon said. “So what we have to do is look at the tape and find out what we can try to fix.”
Boldon said it is easy to see what the Bobcats practice, because they generally perform much better in that area of the game in their next context.
“We’re trying to teach a bunch of new kids,” Boldon added. “Sure, we have six freshmen, but our sophomores and our juniors have never played for this staff … so we’ve got a lot to learn. As a coaching staff, we’ve got a lot to teach.”
@Charliehatch_
gh181212@ohiou.edu
