Sports
Turnovers and Foul Trouble Prove Costly for Ohio Against Kent State
By: Thomas Garverick
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Ohio Bobcat guard Taylor Agler’s face said it all about where the state of the team is. This is a ball club, who has serious issues that need fixing.
The Kent State Golden Flashes came to the Convocation Center and stunned Ohio, stealing a 68-65 victory.
Kent State (8-10) is an improved team from what the Bobcats are accustomed to seeing. The Golden Flashes has won more games this campaign than they have in the past five seasons.
Agler acknowledged the Bobcats habit of underestimating opponents.
“We didn’t come into this game focused and ready to go,” she said. “We are starting to take opponents for granted and it cost us on the court.”
The Bobcats inability to stay out of foul trouble was a recurring problem for them thought the afternoon.
Ohio’s top two playmakers, Quiera Lampkins and Jasmine Weatherspoon fouled out in a span of 20 seconds late in the 4th quarter. The Golden Flashes proceeded to hit two free throws to extend their lead to three, following an Agler missed free throw that would have tied the game at 10.2 seconds.
The free throws sealed Kent State’s victory, as Ohio failed to get a 3-pointer off before the buzzer.
Kent State’s slow offensive start was largely due to the Bobcats keying in on star guard Larissa Lurken, who shot just 3-of-18 for the game. Despite poor shooting from the field, she was able to score in bunches from the foul line, where she had 12 of her 19 points.
The Bobcats were plagued by turnovers, uncharacteristically giving the ball up 22 times. With the Bobcats not taking care of the ball, the Golden Flashes were able to hang around, even though they shot at a pedestrian 27% in the first half.
Coach Bob Bolden didn’t hold back about the impact of their recent shortcomings.
“We might not achieve some of the goals that we set out to get at the beginning of the year, but we can still achieve other things,” said Bolden. “But until we fix our defense, it’s going to continue to be a roller-coaster ride for the rest of the year and have games like we did today.”
Ohio falls to 12-4 overall and 3-2 in MAC play. They travel to Toledo on Wednesday night, in hopes of rebounding from today’s loss.