In his second season, coach Bob Boldon looks to perfect their offensive motion system and improve record.
During a light intrasquad scrimmage last week, sophomore guard Yamonie Jenkins penetrated the paint from the top of the key and then dished the ball to junior Kiyanna Black, who was sitting behind the three point arc.
Black knocked down a 25-foot corner jumper with the shot clock still a few seconds away from zero.
On the other end, freshman Kelly Karlis drove to the baseline and found senior Mariah Byard, who was also behind the arc, on an outlet pass.
Byard’s shot whipped in without hitting the backboard.
“We shot a lot of three pointers last season and I don’t think we could’ve shot more,” coach Bob Boldon said. “I think it will be a lot of the same (this year).”
Following a 9-21 season a year ago, Boldon acknowledged the Bobcats’ offense took a program record 810 shots from beyond the arc, but was adamant about changing the tactic after making just 27 percent of the attempts.
Boldon says shooting from the perimeter stretches the opposition out, which could allow some isolation attack toward the basket.
Karlis, who is 6-foot-2, caused multiple mismatches throughout the scrimmage. At one point Jenkins, who is 5-foot-7, was posted up by Karlis and though the Medinah, Illinois native didn’t receive the ball from handlers up top, she could have a vital role in Ohio’s motion offense.
“We really want to play fast,” redshirt junior Kat Yelle said. “I think we’re at our best when we play fast, so that is our game plan.”
Even with the minor change, however, Boldon seemed intent on keeping the same outlook on the new season. The second-year coach said that the Bobcats will focus on improving ball security and that Ohio still has a “laundry list” of things to work on before their season opener at Murray State.
Ohio’s schedule could allow its record improve for the second straight season, as last year the Bobcats started their season 8-6, but then dropped 14 of the final 15 games. Ohio will face Atlantic-10 opponents like La Salle and Massachusetts along with James Madison, which received one vote in the Associated Press Women’s College Basketball Poll.
The Bobcats are also fairly familiar with playing with one another. Over the offseason, Ohio only had two seniors graduate so the majority of the 2013 team is still intact, including six sophomores who saw playing time last season.
“I think, right now, our whole mentality is trying to get better,” Boldon said. “We’ve got a limited number of practices before our first game, so we want to try to be as good as we can for that. From that point, we’ll try to get ourselves in position to play a MAC game.”
Sophomore guard Quiera Lampkins and Black will return as two main cogs in the Bobcat offense. Lampkins averaged double digit scoring in 2013, and Black led the Bobcats in scoring with 13 points per game.
Yelle and Jenkins will look to carry ball handling duties, as Yelle led the team in assists with 74 last season.
“(The sophomores) are just like veterans out there now and they’ve really grown up a lot — we’ve really grown up a lot — going into this season,” Yelle said. “It’s going to be exciting to watch and see how we’ve matured.”
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