Wednesday evening, Ohio (3-11, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) hosted Bowling Green (7-8, 1-3 MAC) as both teams entered on a two-game skid. Ultimately, the visitors would be the ones to end their streak, as Bowling Green beat Ohio 74-53.
Ohio came out aggressively in the contest, drawing contact on an early and-1 and forcing a turnover in the half court set by trapping the ball. This aggression did not stifle the Bowling Green offense, which went on a 14-5 run to end the first quarter up 24-10.
The Bobcats would start slowly but found some momentum inside the paint, consistently getting free throws. On those free throws, Ohio would bring the Bowling Green lead down to 27-24, dominating the first 6 minutes of the period. However, the Falcons would still end the half with a double-digit lead, up 36-26.
Ohio came out strong from beyond the arc to begin the second quarter; sophomore Bailey Tabeling was key with two 3-pointers to add to a 10-3 burst as it hoped to keep cutting into the lead. Ohio would cut the lead as small as 3 points; senior Kennedi Watkins joined the scoring fray with 4 points during the run.
Bowling Green finished the half, having shot 47% from 3-point range with 8 points off seven Ohio turnovers. Ohio started slow but found a groove on defense in the second quarter, forcing 11 total turnovers in the first half but could only muster 7 points off them.
“We’ve been working all week about getting in the passing lanes, getting the right position, so we just try to beat them to the spot,” graduate student Aliah McWhorter said.
The third quarter started with a lot of back-and-forth action but still found the Falcons extending their advantage out of a timeout, despite a strong effort from Tabeling, who continued her strong night with another pair of 3-pointers. To keep the Bobcats in the fight, the team would have to dig deep to get out of a 54-36 hole.
The Bobcats emerged from a timeout with back-to-back 3-point baskets to cut the lead to 12 but found the lead grew right back to 15 after a few Falcons free throws, ending the third period 57-42.
The team needed more efficiency on the offensive side with tempo and getting into the offensive scheme quickly to keep Bowling Green on its toes.
“I think the balls stuck a lot tonight and didn’t quite get to the open person on time,” Ohio coach Bob Boldon said. “I think we had open players and then we didn’t pass it to them one time, and kind of second-guessed out passing and didn’t move the ball as well as maybe we would like to.”
Bowling Green closed the door early in the fourth quarter with a few buckets, adding to its lead, which was now 64-46 with only 6 minutes to play.
The game would crawl to the finish line with limited points over the final few minutes as Bowling Green milked the clock and handed Ohio its third consecutive loss.
The Bobcats did have some bright spots throughout the night. Tabeling was scoring from all levels, tallying a game-high 26 points on 56% shooting. She was followed by McWhorter with 9 points of her own. Watkins led the team with three assists and added 6 points as well. Defensively, the Bobcats forced 19 turnovers and scored 14 points off those opportunities.
Ohio will play again Saturday on the road against Toledo, the MAC’s fourth-ranked team. With the loss against Bowling Green, Ohio dropped to second-to-last in the MAC standings.
