Lexie Baldwin’s 13 points and seven rebounds pushed Ohio into the MAC Tournament finals.
CLEVELAND — Lexie Baldwin missed Ohio’s season finale last weekend with nagging injuries.
Friday, she walked into Quicken Loans Arena with a brace on her right knee, but wasn’t going to watch top-seeded Ohio play its Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinal game against No. 4 Buffalo from the sidelines.
Baldwin’s 13 points and seven rebounds pushed Ohio to a 63-55 win and into the finals. The win was the third time the Bobcats defeated the Bulls this season.
Senior Mariah Byard and junior Kiyanna Black each finished with 13 points. The Bobcats will play the winner of No. 2 Ball State and No. 6 Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“(Baldwin) was great,” Black said. “She got a lot of rebounds and I was so excited after she hit that layup because that was a huge layup,”
Baldwin and Byard’s play down the stretch helped clinch Ohio’s win.
With 1:07 remaining, Baldwin received the ball at the top of the key, pump faked left and then drove right to finger roll a layup off the glass. The basket gave the Bobcats a four-point lead after the Bulls trimmed their deficit to 55-53.
After shooting one-for-five from the field in the first half, Byard made 3-pointers during back-to-back possessions to keep the Bobcats’ offense afloat late in the second.
“That’s kinda been my whole career: me shooting three,” Byard said. “It was like any other shot, I really don’t the pressure, or anything, get to me.”
Friday’s win was predominantly defensive-orientated, despite the Bulls having a size advantage.
The Bobcats shot over 39 percent from the field, while holding the Bulls to 35 percent shooting.
Early on, Buffalo allowed Ohio to drive the paint before blocking its drivers, such as Black and sophomore Quiera Lampkins. Lampkins struggled at the start and had multiple finishes around the rim blocked.
She finished with six points and eight rebounds on three for 12 shooting.
With the win, Ohio became the first No. 1 seed to win its first game since the MAC Tournament format was changed in 2012.
“We’re just really happy we won and we’re excited to get to work for the next game,” Boldon said. “I thought our kids showed a lot of toughness tonight and hung in there when things necessarily didn’t go our way.”
@Lukeoroark
lr514812@ohio.edu
