The Bobcats are going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995.
CLEVELAND — A step back, a jump shot, some high steps and a roar. Kiyanna Black is the Queen of “The Q.”
It didn’t matter if Eastern Michigan was dubbed “the team of destiny” in honor of a teammate tragically killed in a car crash six weeks ago.
It didn’t matter that the Eagles’ Cha Sweeney dazzled the arena during every offensive possession, slithering through defenders, gliding down the court and offering unparalleled energy throughout the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
But all the aesthetics and spectacles were just a part of the show.
Led by Black, a junior guard who was named the MAC Player of the Tournament, top-seeded Ohio won the conference outright for the first time since 1985-86, after beating Eastern Michigan 60-44 in Saturday’s title game.
“That kid, she’s a tremendous competitor,” Ohio coach Bob Boldon said. “She cares very much about this game and about this team. Her emotions get the best of her sometimes, but we’ve got to live with that because it’s only because she cares. She’s tremendous to coach.”
What truly mattered Saturday — and all season — was Black’s ruthlessness toward her opponents.
Black said the Bobcats’ previous loss against the Eagles on Feb. 18 was a necessary wake up call, and it wouldn’t cripple the team’s momentum heading into the postseason.
Black was right. The defeat — one of only two Ohio losses in 2015 — was a wake up call.
After a frustrating first half on Saturday, including an unnecessary technical foul, Black was muted and went into the break muzzled by the Eagles, shooting two for seven from the field.
But Black relentlessly bombarded the Eagles in the second half, draining five 3-pointers to finish the contest with a game-high 25 points.
“It’s just a great feeling when you’re able to hit shots after missing so many,” she said. “We had momentum and I just kept on shooting and they kept on going in, and that’s the best feeling.”
Securing an automatic NCAA Tournament berth, the Bobcats have been invited to the “Big Dance” for the first time in two decades. The team will learn who it will face in the first round when the bracket is announced Monday night.
“There’s a bunch of clichés for this moment because it’s just hard to put it into words,” Boldon said. “You work when school starts in the fall. These kids show up and you’re selling them on a vision, and you hope they’ll buy into what you’re selling.
“And this team has truly bought into what we’re doing. Then the pressure comes to the coaching staff to make sure you’re selling them something they can put their trust in and will hold up through the test of time … it’s held up to date.”
Ohio’s MAC Championship win is the pinnacle of Boldon’s two-year tenure leading the Bobcats. Under his leadership, Ohio has risen from its worst season in program history the year before he arrived to arguably the best team in program history this season.
Senior guard Mariah Byard, who made the all-tournament team along with junior forward Lexie Baldwin, said she would have never imagined Ohio winning the MAC after her first three years with the team.
“I thought we would be here at the beginning of this year,” Byard said. “Last year, ask me that question, maybe not. But in the preseason at the beginning of this year, I knew that we could be here.”
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Predicted to finish fourth in the MAC East in a preseason poll voted by the conference’s coaches, Ohio went 4-0 against Akron and Central Michigan, the projected first place teams in each division.
With 11 players returning next year, including six current sophomores, Ohio is setting itself up to be a new powerhouse in the MAC. That’s a goal Boldon has set since he arrived on campus.
“The first words out of his mouth were, ‘MAC Championship’,” Black said, commenting on one of her first encounters with Boldon.
“I’m like, ‘We gotta win a few games first.’ ”
And that’s exactly what they’ve done.
gh181212@ohio.edu
@charliehatch_
