Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball Takes Down FGCU
< < Back to ohio-womens-basketball-takes-down-fgcuOhio women’s basketball picked up its first win of the young 2015 season in a 69-57 win over the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in the Akron Classic on Friday afternoon. The Bobcats took a 7-5 lead at with 7:26 to go in the first quarter, and they stayed in front of the Eagles for the rest of the way.
It was a Yamonie Jenkins three that gave Ohio that lead, and it was Jenkins that led the ‘Cats to the win. The junior guard had a game-high 18 points on the day on 4-0f-7 shooting. She sunk two 3-pointers and made all eight of her free throws. She also led Ohio with four assists, and chipped in three rebounds.
After being down 5-4, Jenkins’ shot sparked an 11-point run that gave Ohio a 15-5 lead. The Eagles cut the Bobcats’ lead to five, but a three and two-point jumper from Kiyanna Black got Ohio’s lead back to 10 at 20-10 with just over five minutes left in the quarter. Four missed shots six turnovers helped the Eagles bring it within two at 20-18. Hannah Boesinger hit a three with 2:41 left in the quarter and then the two teams traded baskets until a 3-pointer from Tmisht Smith gave Ohio a 32-25 lead heading into the next quarter.
Jenkins started the second quarter with a three that gave Ohio another 10-point lead, and the ‘Cats maintained that gap for most of the quarter. The Eagles couldn’t cut Ohio’s lead to anything less than seven points, and they found themselves down 11 when Black hit another Ohio 3-pointer to end the quarter.
Black finished the game with 13 points and six rebounds, but she had a rough day getting shots to fall, as she shot just 5 of 15 from the field and 2 of 10 from behind the arc.
The Bobcats almost maintained a double-digit lead for the entirety of the third quarter. Their biggest lead of the day came at 6:46 on a Jasmine Weatherspoon free throw that set the score at 56-40. The junior forward also had a rough day shooting. She shot 3 of 10 from the field, but she did some damage on the boards, as she tallied a game-high of 13.
At 3:19, the Eagles cut the deficit to nine points at a 61-52 score, but a minute later Jenkins propped Ohio’s lead back to double digits with two made free throws.
Next on Ohio’s slate is one more game at the Akron Classic. The ‘Cats will take on Winthrop on Saturday at 1 p.m. from the James A. Rhodes arena in Akron, Ohio.