The goal of basketball is putting the ball in the basket more often than your opponent.
Despite dominating almost every other category, Ohio (3-4) didn’t win the score on Thursday night when Cleveland State won 76-64 after yet another poor shooting performance from the Bobcats.
The game was back and forth most of the way, though. Freshman forward Destini Cooper laid in a layup with 3:29 left into make it a 68-64 Vikings lead, but Cleveland State (4-4) went on to score the remaining eight to pull away.
But for just the second time this season, the Bobcats won the rebounding battle and did it in dominant fashion, grabbing 51 boards, including 26 on the offensive glass, which lead to 25 second-chance points for the Bobcats. The Vikings only grabbed 29 rebounds.
Cleveland State made its mark from behind the three-point arc, where it was 11-of-30 for three points. Junior forward Imani Gordon and senior forward Haley Schmitt led the way for the Vikings, scoring 38 points combined.
“Cleveland State is a good team and they have beaten good teams along the way and they are a little bit better than us right now,” coach Bob Boldon said. “We have a lot of maturing to do and we have some things we have to learn about the game of basketball and that’s our job is to try to teach these kids the best we can. We’ll head back to Athens and get on the practice floor and get a little bit better.”
Junior guard Mariah Byard lead the way for the Bobcats with 16 points, including hitting four shots from downtown. Freshman guard Quiera Lampkins added 15 of her own along with 11 rebounds for her first double-double.
Ohio found trouble hanging onto the ball and committed 21 turnovers, but the Vikings capitalized scoring 23 points off those turnovers, whether it cut to the basket or found open shooters around the arc.
Cleveland State limited its turnovers to just 10 and also shut down Ohio’s biggest weapon: three pointers. The Bobcats only shot 7-of-28 from outside as their ice cold shooting on the road continued, but they will finally return home from their six-game trip to take on Division II Notre Dame College next Saturday at The Convo.
ak849511@ohiou.edu
@Kovarandrew
This article originally appeared in print under the headline, "Ohio dominates stat book, still loses."
