After his team’s 74-53 loss at home against Bowling Green Wednesday night, Ohio coach Bob Boldon said just one sentence upon being asked to give his initial thoughts on the game.
“I thought Bailey (Tabeling) scored the ball well,” Boldon said.
His one sentence was an indictment of the rough night Ohio had in all aspects of the game, but it was also an endorsement of the night that Tabeling had.
The sophomore guard from Seymore, Indiana, lit up the Convo Wednesday night, scoring a game-high 26 points in many different ways throughout the game.
Tabeling started Ohio’s scoring with a drive to the hoop for a 3-point play and then another inside attack as she got to the rim for another layup, giving Ohio its first 5 points.
The Bobcats would only score 5 more points in the rest of the first quarter, with the offense looking stagnant until Tabeling began to heat up from deep in the second, knocking down two 3-pointers in quick succession to give a jolt of offense.
The second of her two 3-pointers in the second quarter was an absolute heat check shot from the Bobcats’ half-court logo that found nothing but the nylon of the net.
Tabeling credited part of her stellar night to her teammates finding her, including senior guard Aliyah McWhorter.
“Working with my team, finding the open space,” Tabeling said when asked what went into her performance. “Aliyah hit me a couple times. Just working as a team, that seems to work best for us, especially when we're trying to get a point.”
Tabeling would finish the game with three more 3-pointers and 26 total points, coming 2 points short of tying her career-high of 28.
Without Tabeling’s big game, the 20-point loss could have ballooned even higher as Boldon acknowledged the team’s lackluster offensive performance many times in the press conference following the game.
"I thought the ball stuck a lot tonight and didn’t quite get to the open person on time,” Boldon said. “I think we had open players, and then we didn't pass it to them one time and kind of second-guessed our passing. We didn't move the ball as well as maybe we would have liked to.”
On a night when the offense looked clunky and out of rhythm, Tabeling was always there to make a quick shot or pass, adding tempo to the mostly stagnant Ohio offense.
Tabeling’s confidence has grown throughout the season as she has adjusted to her new role as Ohio’s primary ball-handler and point guard, initiating most of the sets that the Bobcats run.
That role has been opened with guards Jaya McClure and Monica Williams experiencing injuries, requiring Tabeling to bear the responsibility of point guard for Ohio’s offense.
Although Tabeling ended Wednesday's game with just one out of Ohio’s seven total assists, her movement and involvement in the offense are much more pronounced compared to her freshman year last season, where she mainly served as a shooter and wasn’t very involved in playmaking.
“I think she’s been awesome,” Boldon said. “It's certainly not what she signed up for when she committed to come to school here. I'm grateful she has that skill set and has been able to kind of fill that void for us. And I think she's done a really nice job of trying to take the lead and get us into stuff.”
Tabeling will have to continue playing her best and growing as a point guard as Ohio heads toward the bulk of their MAC schedule after a shaky 1-4 start.
