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Bobcats close nonconference play with win

By Charlie Hatch | Dec. 30, 2014

In a contest comprised of lead changes with every basket, a late Ohio surge gave the team a win to close its nonconference schedule and wrap up play in the calendar year.The Bobcats rallied to conquer the Vikings 71-64 Monday night, picking up their ninth win this season, tying their win total from the 2013-14 season.Ohio slowly took momentum with 4:43 to play when sophomore guard Quiera Lampkins scored eight-consecutive points, which turned a 58-55 deficit into a 66-61 lead with 2:26 remaining.Also at that 2:26 mark, Jasmine Weatherspoon, a sophomore forward, re-entered the game and arguably had her best defensive performance of her career.Cleveland State crept back to make it 66-64, and on Allison Mitchell’s attempted layup to tie the game with 46 seconds, Weatherspoon had a block to maintain the lead.The Vikings’ Cori Coleman then tried a game-tying jump shot with 39 seconds left, which rimmed out and Weatherspoon brought down for a rebound.Weatherspoon forced her third turnover, a steal, with 16 seconds remaining, securing Ohio’s ninth win. She finished with 12 points, four blocks, one rebound and one steal.The forward’s late defensive showing summed up the aggressive defensive play coach Bob Boldon has tried to install in his second year with the program. Monday night, that defense forced 27 turnovers and held the Vikings to a 43.9 percent field goal percentage.Looking ahead, Boldon said improving the team’s already formulated identity would be the best thing for his squad, which started the season with its best record since 1985.“I don’t know that we’re going to try to tweak anything other than trying to improve everything we do,” he said. “I think we are who we are right now. We’re not going to try to recreate who we are, we’ll just have a better version of us on the floor in January.”The Bobcats begin Mid-American Conference play Jan. 3, on a road trip to Buffalo. Bobcats close nonconference play with win

Women's Basketball File

Women's Basketball: 'Cats ready to bounce back in Georgia State Tournament

By Luke O'Roark | Dec. 19, 2014

Following a loss to James Madison on Monday, Ohio is looking to clean up some of its mistakes it displayed in the first half of the season at the Georgia State Tournament.The tournament, which will be held in Atlanta, will have the Bobcats tip off against La Salle (6-3) on Friday and Massachusetts (5-4) on Saturday.Going in, the Bobcats (6-2) have dropped their previous two and will attempt to fix a slumping shooting percentage in their final three non-conference games of the season.“I feel like there are always positives in a game, but we don’t take moral victories,” junior guard Kiyanna Black said. “We set the standards high for ourselves and we just don’t accept moral victories.”Black, who had 17 points in Ohio’s 69-62 loss to James Madison, helped Ohio jump out to its best start in almost 30 years by shooting 51 percent from the field in the first two wins of the season. In the past two losses, however, Black has gone 10 for 35 from the field — a 29 percent shooting percentage.Despite facing tougher opponents in James Madison and East Carolina, Ohio’s shooting percentage, as a whole, has declined.In early wins against Manhattan and Morehead State, Ohio shot 55 and 45 percent from the field, respectively, but against East Carolina on Dec. 6 and James Madison on Monday, Black and the Bobcats shot 39 percent.“(Against JMU) was very choppy and I think we can play that game. When we’re locked in we guard pretty well, and that benefits the defense when that starts happening because there is no flow in the game,” coach Bob Boldon said. “I thought defensively, we were okay but I thought offensively, we were just too stagnant. We’ve got to be more comfortable playing half-court basketball.”Redshirt junior guard Mariah Harris, who made her Ohio debut Monday, could be more involved in Boldon’s game plan this weekend. The Bobcats already have a deep bench and Harris could provide more ball handling to a backcourt that averages just 13.6 turnover per game.Harris transferred from Michigan State to Ohio this fall and wasn’t allowed to play in the Bobcat’s first seven games because of NCAA transfer regulations.  At Michigan State, Harris played 18 total games off the bench.“I know there were some jitters and it would have been nice to get her in against some other teams that we’ve played, but she just became eligible Friday,” Boldon said. “We’ve got three more non-conference games with her before we get to conference schedule. I don’t personally think she is a point guard, but I thought she showed her versatility and did a lot of good things for us tonight.”The Bobcats may also see sophomore point guard Yamonie Jenkins return to action sometime soon, as Jenkins suffered a concussion in Ohio’s 76-68 loss to East Carolina and sat out Monday. Jenkins has paced the Bobcats with a team-best 26 assists and at one point led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio.For Ohio’s opponents, La Salle is coming off a 70-36 loss to Villanova, which ended its six-game winning streak. Massachusetts goes into the tournament beating its last two opponents by double digits. UMass’ leading scorer, senior forward Kim Peirre-Louis, leads the team in scoring with 159 total points this season.“I think we’re small, but we can still compete with the big teams. It’s all about boxing out. It’s not height, it’s about sticking to the principals and boxing out every time,” Black said. “If you put a body on somebody, no matter how big they are, nine times out of ten its going to beat it.”@Lukeoroarklr514812@ohio.edu

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