Sports
Bobcats Shut Down Red Flash 91-65
By: Jordan Gallagher
Posted on:
After a slow start, the Bobcats got the ball rolling with help from tough defense and a second half offensive surge. Those two factors gave the Bobcats the 91-65 victory over the St. Francis Red Flash.
With the Bobcats offense struggling early, it was the Bobcat defense that stepped up today. Ohio consistently put pressure on the Red Flash’s offense, which led to turnovers and key mistakes that kept Saint Francis out of the game. The key defensive play came early in the game for Ohio. With Ohio down 10-9, senior guard Mariah Harris blocked a three-point shot from a Flash player. Harris’ block then led to a transition basket from Dominique Doseck. The play led to a 6-0 run for the Bobcats and marked the last time St. Francis held a lead.
Coming into the game, St. Francis guard Jessica Kovatch was averaging 24 points per game, but the Bobcat defense was able to shut her down, holding her to just eight points on 3-12 shooting. St. Francis as a team was also unable to get much going, as it struggled to shoot the ball consistently all night, shooting just 35 percent from the floor.
“We just focused on our scouting report to limit threes with [Kovatch],” Quiera Lampkins explained. “So going over the top of handoffs and closing out making her put the ball on the ground.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bobcats were able to pick things up after a slow start to begin the game. After a first half that saw the Bobcats shoot just 37 percent from the floor and 20 percent from three-point range, the Bobcats came out hot to start the second half. The Bobcats hit five of their first nine shots in the third quarter, which set up an 11-3 run that allowed Ohio to pull away.
The Bobcats stayed hot offensively for the rest of the second half, as they broke down the St. Francis defense time and time again. The Bobcats shot 55 percent in the second half and did most of their damage inside, taking just nine shots from three after shooting 15 threes in the first half.
For much of the night, the Bobcat offense was run by Lampkins, who had a season-high 21 points on 8-11 shooting. The Red Flash did a tremendous job of stopping Bobcat star Kiyanna Black, holding her to just 11 points, as they routinely had a hand in her face when she had the ball.
“Number-wise I thought she played really good for us the first four games and she just didn’t score,” Ohio head coach Bob Bolden said of Lampkins. “But she does a lot for our offense and she is very, very valuable. She just seems more valuable tonight on a night where she scores 21 points and has four steals and two assists. ”
The Bobcats also stood out in other facets of the game, outrebounding St. Francis 54-37 with 19 offensive rebounds. The Bobcats also had just 14 turnovers, a major improvement over the 29 that they had last game.
The Bobcats will travel to Pittsburgh to face Duquesne Sunday in their first road contest since November 28th. The victory for the Bobcats improves their record to 5-2.