Minutes before the Ohio women’s basketball team left for Cleveland, coach Semeka Randall broke down the team’s plan for the closing minutes of Wednesday’s second-round Mid-American Conference tournament game.
The ninth-seeded Bobcats (14-17) packed the bus and headed to Quicken Loans Arena early Tuesday, hoping to not make the return trip to Athens any time soon. Ohio’s first on-site tournament matchup is against Central Michigan (17?14) Wednesday at 12 p.m.
“I’m looking forward to a long stay and some tough but victorious games at the MAC Championship,” senior guard Tenishia Benson said. “But before that, it’s just each game at a time.”
Although Ohio’s matchup with Central Michigan earlier this season was one of the year’s biggest letdowns, they will try to put some of those demons in the past.
A physical altercation early in the first half of the Bobcats’ 67-53 loss Jan. 25 against Central Michigan led to a two-game suspension for junior forward Porsha Harris. Three Chippewas received the same penalty.
Randall said her team will look to channel any leftover emotions positively Wednesday.
“You have to come and play, but you have to play disciplined and smart from our standpoint,” Randall said. “I’m quite sure it will be emotional the first five minutes of the game. I’m sure it’s going to be emotional for the officials because they’ve had a look at that video, and they definitely do not want anything like that to happen again.”
Harris will be inactive for the second straight game because of a lingering knee injury.
The officials won’t be the only participants with extra nerves. Ohio will be seeking its first victory in the second round or beyond since the 2007–08 season.
Even though the Bobcats were within sniffing distance of Quicken Loans Arena when they played Cleveland State in December, emotions will be running especially high when they take to the unfamiliar court.
Freshman guard Mariah Byard was the shooting star for the Bobcats during their first-round victory against Kent State at home Saturday. She drained four of her nine attempts from beyond the arc to pace her team’s 46 percent field-goal percentage on 3-pointers.
“If they start feeding it inside, the floor just spreads out and it ends up getting into my hands and then the inside opens up,” Byard said. “It’s just an ongoing cycle.”
The Bobcats must improve their presence down low for them to be successful against the Chippewas. Last time around, Ohio allowed Central Michigan to pull down 42 rebounds and to score 40 points in the paint.
“They’re going to try and pack it in and tell us to beat them from outside,” Randall said. “What we need to do is concentrate on guarding their dribble penetration and contain them on the boards.”
Though the Chippewas hold the advantage against Ohio on paper — they lead the all-time series 28-27 and had a better record this year — the Bobcats have the upper hand historically. Ohio is 4-1 in its past five postseason meetings with the Chippewas.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
