Ohio (3-14, 1-6 Mid-American Conference) was back in The Convo Saturday afternoon to take on Eastern Michigan (1-16, 0-7 MAC), with both teams hoping to end losing streaks of five or more games. The Bobcats came out on top with a commanding 69-59 victory which earned Ohio coach Bob Boldon his 200th career win.
The game was also a part of the Turn it Gold event, an annual game which raises money for childhood cancer. Boldon shared his team had a chance to meet families impacted by childhood cancer prior to the game. The game became more than just winning or losing; it showed by the level of tenacity the players displayed.
The Eagles came out fiery in this contest, hitting four of their first six attempts from 3-point range to grab an early lead. The Bobcats displayed some range of their own, though, making three of their first five attempts. Senior Kate Dennis was responsible for two of those makes.
“One of the main things that we talked about was everybody’s got to go out there with confidence,” Ohio guard Bailey Tabeling said. “(Everyone has to) think they’re the best player on the team or the floor, and if you’re not doing that, then it’s not going to go well.”
Eastern Michigan scored at all levels throughout the first quarter, making it hard for Ohio to defend effectively. Eastern Michigan found open shots and made the best of them, especially on the offensive glass, grabbing three offensive rebounds and turning them into points. Ohio continued to fight, though, not letting the lead grow. The first quarter would end 18-13 in favor of Eastern Michigan.
The Bobcats hoped to rally from behind in the second quarter and were led by senior Kennedi Watkins who scored 5 quick points to open the quarter, as well as having an assist to sophomore Bailey Tabeling which cut the Eagles lead to 21-20.
Led by Watkins and Tabeling, the Bobcats stayed hot and went on a 13-4 run to take a 26-25 lead. With Tabeling and Watkins drawing defensive attention from Eastern Michigan, senior Aliah McWhorter became wide open to drain a lead-taking 3-pointer.
Coming out of a timeout by Eastern Michigan, Tabeling scored 7 straight points, pushing an impressive Ohio run to 22-7 in the second quarter.
The Bobcats forced six turnovers on defense in the second quarter and scored 11 points off those turnovers. This helped Ohio take a 35-25 lead into the half.
Ohio stayed hot going into the second half. The team went on a 7-0 run in the opening two minutes of the third quarter as they tried to pull away. Eastern Michigan fired back with 5 straight points of its own to keep the game within reach. Eastern continued to push as it allowed Ohio to score just one layup before going on another 6-0 run to cut the lead to 8.
The Eagles cut the lead as small as 4 points, but senior Anyssa Jones would have none of it as she attacked the basket, drawing contact and nailing a pair from the free-throw line, as well as a shifty layup to quickly reextend the lead to 8.The Bobcats would not stop there as Tabeling stole one off the inbound and knocked down a huge 3-pointer to force a timeout by the Eagles as the lead went back to double digits.
The last two minutes of the period got sloppy, with both teams turning it over and forcing contested shots near the end of the shot clock, resulting in low scoring to close out the third. Ohio would still hold a strong lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play up 55-42 and hoping to close out its first win at home in 2025.
The Bobcats started slowly in the fourth quarter only scoring a singular point in the first three minutes of action. Contrastingly, the Eagles scored 6 points to cut the lead to 56-48 and were looking for more inside the paint. Ohio’s ability to score inside the paint would be the deciding factor late in this contest as Watkins found her way to an and-1 and converted to put the Bobcats up 61-50, a sizeable lead that put the game out of reach.
Ohio was led by Tabeling, who had her first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. She was followed by Watkins, who had 15 points, and Jones, who had 12 points. The defense shined for Ohio as it forced 22 turnovers and scored 18 points off those turnovers.
