Although Ohio (2-5) remained competitive in the first half with Syracuse (8-1), the game would end with Ohio falling by a final score of 62-82 in The Convo.
This loss comes despite career highs for several key contributors for the Bobcats, namely freshman Bailey Tabeling and sophomore Jaya McClure. Tabeling scored a career-high 23 points, while McClure had her best passing performance of her career with nine assists. Tabeling also broke the Ohio freshman record for three-point shots made in a game with seven.
These efforts were enough to keep things close when Ohio went into the halftime break, down just one point to a formidable Syracuse team. Coming into the game, the Orange featured the ACC's fourth-leading scorer, Dyaisha Fair, who came in averaging 18.4 points per game – good for 48th best in the NCAA.
Throughout the first half, the Bobcats could limit Fair's production. McClure was tasked with guarding Fair one-on-one on most of her attempts, and when halftime came around, Ohio's point guard was winning the matchup with eight points and seven assists compared to Fair's 10 points and one assist on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.
Accompanied by Tabeling's 17 points and 5 three-pointers at the break, this was enough to keep the Bobcats in the game despite the Orange's bigs controlling the game on the glass and running up the foul total for the home team.
However, as the half turned to the second, it was almost as if a different Bobcats team walked onto the court. Syracuse started the third quarter with 13 unanswered points, while Ohio didn't get a shot up until Syracuse was already on a 9-0 run.
A bevy of turnovers and shot-clock violations plagued the team's performance in the third, and it seemed as if the Bobcats were starting to let off the gas.
"We lost a little bit of our aggressiveness to start the third quarter," Ohio coach Bob Boldon said. "I think that hurt us on both ends of the floor … we didn't seem to have an answer for them defensively the whole night."
While Ohio's defense struggled, it was Syracuse's incredibly flexible zone defense that contributed to Ohio's offensive trouble throughout the afternoon, and specifically the second half.
The Bobcats would score just seven points throughout the third quarter, which kept the team from ever getting back within 12 points of the Orange en route to the 20-point deficit at the finish.
"Syracuse was better than us at the end of the day," Boldon said. "(But) Syracuse wasn't better than us because we didn't try."
The care and the effort that this team has shown has been something that Boldon has hammered home as the losses pile up for the Bobcats, who have now lost their third-straight game.
"They came out with a great deal of intensity, playing toe-to-toe with a really good basketball team," Boldon said. "We missed some shots … they made shots and got some separation, but then bounced back in the fourth quarter and competed."
However, after getting through the gauntlet that was Ohio State and Syracuse – two teams with a combined loss total of just two – Ohio has an eight-day break to look forward to as they recoup against Indiana State on December 17.
Their matchup against the Sycamores will be the first of a three-game stretch prior to the start of conference play for the Bobcats. While there's work to be done, the Bobcats will head into this stretch with an opportunity to figure out what needs to be fixed and what they can build on.
