The slide continued for Ohio as it fell to the hands of Eastern Michigan for its seventh consecutive loss.
Turnovers and poor defense plagued the Bobcats, as the Eagles controlled the tempo of the game for the wire-to-wire 68-55 victory. However, Ohio played well in stretches and came within three points of the lead with 17:48 to go in the game.
But from that point on, Eastern Michigan shutdown Ohio and pulled away. The Eagles held a game-high 18-point lead with 5:55 to play and the Bobcats couldn’t find a bucket down the stretch.
Ohio didn’t help itself out on the offensive side of the ball as its 19 turnovers led to 19 points for Eastern Michigan, including six on the fast break.
“To me, this hurts, but it doesn’t hurt any worse than the last six or seven (losses) did,” coach Bob Boldon said. “We’re going to approach practice tomorrow and try to get things fixed.”
Eastern Michigan rode the backs of three double-digit scorers. Freshman guard Cha Sweeney had 19 points to lead the way and she was able to find holes in the Bobcat defense to get to the rim, while freshman guard Janay Morton added 17 points.
Sophomore guard Kiyanna Black and freshman forward Destini Cooper both scored double digits as they took turns trying to bring Ohio back into the game.
A pair of Black threes early in the first half put the Bobcats within arm’s length of the lead. Cooper did most of her damage late in the second where she found success inside.
Sunday was the seventh straight game in which the Bobcats have allowed at least 36 points in the second half and looked lethargic down the stretch.
“We’re just not good enough,” Boldon said. “That’s why we lose because we aren’t good enough. The other teams are better than us. I don’t know if I would say they are better than us at a specific skill set … In this losing streak teams have shot the ball better than us that’s a product of us shooting the ball poorly and us not executing.”
Luckily for Ohio, it has an entire week of practices to prepare for its next game against Toledo. Boldon believes that is the only way the team can get better and game experience isn’t enough for this team at the time.
“Like coach tells us, we have to overlook being young and people being hurt because at the end of the day it’s just us and we can’t help that,” sophomore forward Lexie Baldwin said. “Of course we’re tired but we just have to play through it.”
@Kovarandrew
ak840511@ohiou.edu
Fast Facts
Eastern Michigan 68
(14-8, 4-7 MAC)
Ohio 55
(8-14, 3-8 MAC)
— The Bobcats have lost seven straight games
