Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: Ice Cold 4th Quarter Costs ‘Cats
By: Taylor Jedrzejek
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For three quarters, the Bobcats’ offense was doing their part to heat up the Convo despite the frigid temperatures outside.
But in the final quarter, the ball froze over for Ohio.
The ‘Cats made just one shot in the final 10 minutes and let a win slip away to rival Miami, falling 67-61 Wednesday night.
“I’ve never seen them go 1-of-14. Never in my life,” Ohio head coach Bob Bolden said. “It was weird, it was strange. Off the top of my head, there’s nothing that really sticks out.”
The Bobcats were outscored 14-3 in the fourth quarter, being held without a field goal for the final 6:56 and shooting just seven percent. Three points is Ohio’s lowest scoring output for a single quarter this season.
This is the Bobcats’ fourth loss in a row to Miami, dating back to last season. Ohio last beat the RedHawks in February of 2017.
“It definitely hurts,” Bobcats’ guard Erica Johnson said. “Seeing that they beat us three times last season and they just came in our gym and beat us again and how excited they were…their energy frustrated us. They knew what they wanted to do and came in and got it done. We just lost to a team for the fourth time in a row…that’s completely unacceptable.”
No one in the arena, except maybe the few Miami fans in attendance and the RedHawks themselves, could have seen the fourth quarter the Bobcats had coming.
Through three quarters, Ohio was shooting 47 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arch. The 58 points they had scored was just one short of the 59 the top-ranked Miami defense gives up per game.
“I don’t know where the offense went,” Bolden said. “Even at our worst last year, it wasn’t that bad. Just about every kid out there got a chance.”
“Shots just weren’t falling and we got frustrated,” Johnson said. “We didn’t take shots that that we wouldn’t normally take.”
The Bobcats led by 10 at halftime, but their defense let them down in the second half, giving up 38 points in the final 20 min, including 21 to Miami leading scorer Lauren Dickerson.
“Our third quarter defense put us in a bad situation going into the third quarter,” Bolden said. “It’s something that we’re aware of. Sometimes you need to lose to believe. You can’t keep skating by and think it’s ok.”
Dickerson finished the game with 28 points to lead all scorers, followed by teammate Savannah Kluesner with 21 points and 16 rebounds.
The Bobcats had four players finish in double figures, led by Johnson, who finished with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Cece Hooks added 15 points while Amani Burke and Olivia Bower tallied 11 and 10 points respectively.
“Our league has become so good that you don’t get a night off,” Bolden said. “Anybody could lose to anybody.”
Ohio will have two days to work out the kinks before facing off with a struggling Ball State team on Saturday afternoon in Athens during the 50th Anniversary celebration for the Convo. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.