With 5:42 left in the fourth quarter of Ohio’s game against Toledo, Hannah Boesinger elbowed Toledo guard Jay Bravo-Harriott under the basket.
The contact seemed incidental; elbows fly sometimes under the basket. Nonetheless, Boesinger was charged with a technical and common foul. Toledo took advantage and scored four points on its four allotted free throws to cut Ohio’s lead to 50-45.
And with Quiera Lampkins and Jasmine Weatherspoon both having four personal fouls, the situation felt too familiar.
It was reminiscent of the Bobcats’ 68-65 loss to Kent State last Saturday, as Lampkins and Weatherspoon fouled out with under three minutes left in the game.
As the quarter wore on, and as the Bobcats increasingly needed a bucket, only up 50-45 with 5:40 left, Lampkins did what she does: be the best player for the Bobcats.
But from there, the Bobcats maintained, going on an 11-4 run to defeat the Rockets 64-55 Wednesday night in Savage Arena.
Lampkins is an all-around player, capable of scoring, defending and setting up teammates, but her game against Toledo (12-5, 3-3 in Mid-American Conference) was different.
Yes, she usually scores whenever she wants – she averages 19.2 points per game. But even though she scored a game-high 26 points against Toledo and grabbed 10 rebounds, something was still different about her performance against Toledo.
It was different because for the first time all season, no one could truly stop her.
Lampkins got to the basket at will and added five assists to her double-double.
Lampkins played her best on both ends of the floor Wednesday night when she became the fourth player in program history to score more than 1,500 points.
“I thought she was good last week, I think she’s good this week, I think she’ll probably be good next week,” coach Bob Boldon said.
Boldon said Lampkins had a solid last two days of practice, calling them as good as they've ever been.
Lampkins was the only player to score in double figures for the Bobcats, shooting 66.6 percent from the field. The team’s best player, she played as if she knew the Bobcats (13-4, 4-2 MAC) needed a win.
And, well, they did.
Having not played solid defense since the start of the new year, the Bobcats needed to have a good defensive effort against the Rockets. They forced the Rockets to commit 21 turnovers, and they scored 21 points off turnovers. Toledo entered the game averaging 73.2 points per game.
“I’m proud of the players for making that adjustment (on defense),” Boldon said. “And making a little bit more concentration on trying to guard.”
Though the Bobcats managed to regroup defensively, it is still only one game. Earlier in the week, Boldon spoke about stringing together multiple good practices and trying to improve with each one.
Well, the Bobcats are going to need to have consecutive solid games, too.
Ohio will have a chance to continue its momentum Saturday, when it plays against Eastern Michigan (5-13, 0-6 MAC) in The Convo at 2 p.m.
“We (have) kind of been up and down – win a game and be a little bit sloppy the next night,” Boldon said.
