Ohio has dealt with a revolving door of injuries all season, but what has hurt the Bobcats the most is the lack of consistent offense and wins away from The Convo.
Those three themes continued for the Bobcats as they shot 31 percent from the field in a 50-46 defeat against Northern Illinois Saturday on the road.
Ohio also lost Alesia Howard to a broken nose during practice. She will see a specialist when the team returns to Athens, coach Semeka Randall said.
As expected, the game was a low-scoring affair. Northern Illinois (10-12, 4-6 Mid-American Conference) is last in the conference in scoring offense but near the top in scoring defense. Similarly, Ohio (10-14, 3-7 MAC) is fourth in defense and ninth in offense.
Ohio shot only 26 percent from the field in the first half, which led to only 15 points for the Bobcats. It took the Bobcats more than four minutes to get on the scoreboard, and they had two other four-minute scoreless droughts in the first half.
The Huskies shot 39 percent but led by only five points when they headed to the locker room at halftime.
Ohio’s offense was more productive in the second half as it cut the lead to a single possession eight times, but the Bobcats could not complete the comeback.
“The biggest disappointment was that we were flat tonight,” Randall said. “Second half we came out more inspired, but we were flat throughout the whole game.”
Redshirt senior guard Tenishia Benson and junior forward Porsha Harris fueled the Bobcats with 18 and 11 points, respectively.
The Huskies’ leading scorer, freshman forward Claire Jakubicek, finished with 16 points in only 23 minutes of play.
Randall said Jakubicek, who averages 11 points per game, is going to be one of the rising stars for Northern Illinois and in the MAC.
“She played extremely hard, she was aggressive and attacked the low post,” Randall said. “She can also handle the ball for Northern and call plays. She did a good job.”
Her most important points came with six seconds left in the game, when she made both free throws to clinch a victory for the Huskies.
Huskies redshirt senior forward Kim Davis added 16 points of her own to the winning effort.
Randall said she did not expect Davis to have the influence that she had.
“I didn’t expect any of these guys to come and play the way they did,” she said. “They played very well, and we were stagnant and kind of watching them at times.”
nr225008@ohiou.edu
