Saturday afternoon will also be Senior Day for Ohio when Kiyanna Black, Lexie Baldwin and Mariah Harris will be honored.
A win and it’s confirmed.
If Ohio beats Buffalo on Saturday and Central Michigan loses its game, Ohio will secure its second-straight Mid-American Conference regular season title.
The Bobcats have a two-game lead in conference play with three games remaining in the regular season.
While Ohio (22-4, 14-1 MAC) technically doesn’t have to beat Buffalo to win the conference, there’s added motivation to do so.
Beyond the obvious — wanting to win the rest of its games this season — Buffalo (14-12, 6-9 MAC) is the only team to beat Ohio in MAC play this year.
“We’ve been better since that (loss),” coach Bob Boldon said. “We were playing pretty good basketball before that game also.”
After all, the Bobcats have won 17 of their last 18 games.
But that lone loss at Buffalo on Feb. 3 still lingers around for the Bobcats, who’ve played with more authority since the upset defeat.
“We’ve had much more energy than we had at Buffalo,” senior guard Kiyanna Black said. “We were just flat and didn’t play our best game.”
The Bobcats have responded with their best performances this season.
In the five games since the loss, Ohio’s average win-margin is 27 points. In the upset loss to Buffalo, the team only scored 43 points.
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Yet with that in the past, Black wants to confirm the regular season championship, as well as the No. 1 seed at the MAC Tournament in Cleveland next month.
“It’s a nice thing to have under your belt going into the MAC Tournament,” Black said. “It will be a nice thing for our team.”
Saturday afternoon will also be Senior Day for Ohio when Black, Lexie Baldwin and Mariah Harris will be honored.
In addition, former player Caroline (Mast) Daugherty will have her No. 40 jersey retired at halftime of the game.
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
