After starting the game on a 12-4 run, points became hard to come by for Ohio (7-12, 4-5 MAC). While Ohio struggled to score, Buffalo (11-8, 5-4 MAC) got into a rhythm at the free-throw line and inside the paint. From that point onward, the Buffalo onslaught would lead to Ohio falling 81-63 as the final horn sounded off.
Despite taking around the same number of shots and finishing with one fewer turnovers, the Bobcats still trailed for most of the game. A large part of this had to do with the types of shots each team was taking and the rate they were making them.
Ohio was outscored 54 to 16 in the interior area. Buffalo generated their interior looks in a variety of ways. Initially, the Bulls beat the Bobcats at the rim with off-ball movement, finding openings behind the Bobcats’ rotations for easy layups.
“I thought defensively we did a good job of helping early,” Ohio coach Bob Boldon said. “I don’t think our communication was good enough, obviously.”
Despite some early defensive stops from the Bobcats, the MAC’s leading scorer, Chellia Watson, was who began to cause problems for the Bobcats down the stretch.
Late in the third quarter, Watson converted consecutive and-one floaters; a signature shot of hers that helped her score an NCAA season-high 47 points against Toledo earlier in the week. As she heated up, getting inside the paint and either finishing or creating a good look for her teammates, it was clear the energy in the building started to dissipate.
“We had a hard time, for whatever reason, keeping our energy up,” Boldon said. “When shots don’t go in, sometimes it’s hard to be excited to play defense.”
The Bobcats’ shot selection plagued them for most of the game. Ohio shot a season-high 39 three-point attempts against Buffalo, making just nine of them. This near-game-long shooting drought allowed the Bulls to get rolling, giving them many opportunities in transition to score easy points.
Of course, part of the myriad of 3-pointers that the Bobcats attempted could be attributed to a sort of comeback mentality. To compare with other sports, when a football team finds itself in a comeback mode, it begins to favor passing to running more. Think of 3-pointers as passes in this instance and 2-pointers as runs. While the team could reliably find the easier points from 2-point range, risking a chance of getting hot from the 3-point line is simply more valuable than a 2-pointer down the stretch.
Ohio's best shooter coming into the game, Bailey Tabeling, found herself in a drought against Buffalo, going 3-of-15 from beyond the arc. Tabeling, who had shot 49% from three heading into the game, struggled to get it going from the beginning, starting 0-3 and attempting to shoot her way out of a slump.
“We have some really good shooters…if you told me Bailey (Tabeling) was going to shoot 15 threes tonight, I’d be really happy with that number,” Boldon said. “... We’re at our best when we’re playing together as a team and we’re taking what the defense gives us. I have a lot of confidence in my kids to do that ... Somedays (those shots) go in, and some days they just don’t.”
