Turnovers and foul trouble punished Ohio in its 62-53 loss to Illinois.
Ohio had a chance to tie against Illinois late when senior forward Lexie Baldwin took a hopeful 3-pointer.
Her shot missed left and junior Yamonie Jenkins grabbed the rebound, but was called for an offensive foul after a slight shove to an Illinois defender. This gave Illinois all the momentum with less than two minutes to play.
From there, turnovers and fouls continued to afflict the Bobcats as Ohio fell to Illinois 62-53 Sunday afternoon. Fouls were a trend the entire game.
Within the first few minutes of the first quarter, forward Quiera Lampkins picked up three fouls, eventually finishing with four along with a few travel violations, Guard Mariah Harris fouled out, and two other Bobcats had four fouls to end the game. Ohio would end the game with 25 total fouls.
“November might be tough for us,” Ohio coach Bob Boldon said. “I’m not sure if we’ll win a game.”
Ohio (0-1) started the game strong, but wasn’t able to maintain the stability like it did a week ago in a exhibition matchup with Wilmington. After getting out to a 13-point lead in the second quarter, Ohio went stale and didn’t score for the final six minutes of the quarter, as Illinois erased Ohio’s lead to just two at the half. The Bobcats only scored five points in all of the second quarter.
Ohio had another scoring drought in the third quarter that, again, Illinois took advantage of and took its first lead of the game halfway through the third.
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Ohio wasn’t able to find the offensive rhythm it once had at the beginning of the game; it simply couldn’t make a shot.
Illinois (2-0) pounced all over Ohio’s missed chances and was able to extend its lead late, squandering any opportunities Ohio had at a comeback.
Senior guard Kiyanna Black led Ohio’s scorers with 18 points, as Ohio will next travel to Akron for the Akron Classic on Nov. 20.
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