Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: Burke’s historic performance fuels Bobcat win
By: Nick Viland
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ATHENS, Ohio — A celebration of five decades of the Convocation Center led to some magic on the court Saturday. Amani Burke lead the Ohio women’s basketball team with an Ohio University and Mid-American Conference record with 11 3-pointers; Ohio tied the Convocation Center record with 17 3-pointers as a whole that led the Bobcats to a 94-62 victory over Ball State.
After losing a close game to Miami on Wednesday, Ohio looked for a much needed moral booster. The Bobcats came into the game with a chip on their shoulder after letting that game slip away in the fourth quarter.
“We felt like we let that one go,” Ohio guard Amani Burke said about the loss on Wednesday to Miami.
Ohio head coach Bob Boldon was upset about the loss, but had an optimist approach to it.
“Losing tends to bring your deficiencies to light, and sometimes you have to lose to let it sink in,” Boldon said. “It’s a shame it goes that way, but it’s an opportunity to learn.”
Burke did not let this one go. She was on fire from the start of the game as she went 4-for-4 after the first to go on to break a MAC record and be one 3-pointer short of tying the NCAA record.
“I said before the game I was going to shoot ten, but I had no idea I was going to break a record,” Burke said.
Boldon witnessed Kiyanna Black make 10 3-pointers against Toledo in 2016 to share the record.
“It was amazing. When Kiyanna did it, I thought watching a Kiyanna make ten 3-pointers at 50 percent was pretty good,” Boldon said.”Then, I see Amani make 11-of-15 and that was incredible.”
Burke was in the zone throughout the entire game and did her own version of Michael Jordan’s famous shoulder shrug celebration after she hit one of her threes from deep.
“I can‘t describe it, the shots were going in even if I wasn’t trying to shoot them to go in,” Burke said.
Cece Hooks was right behind Burke with 26 points as well she had 12 assists and seven rebounds.
“Coming off of the loss, practice was difficult the last couple days, so we had to keep fighting, play the full 40-minutes and get the victory,” Ohio guard Cece Hooks said.
The team aspect behind the arc was also record breaking. Ohio went 17-of-37 from behind the line to tie the Convocation Center record for 3-pointers in a game.
“They start to find the open shots. It wasn’t just Amani Burke hunting shots tonight,” Boldon said. “It was a team effort. The three-pointers often came after two or three passes, and drives and kick-outs.” Boldon said.
Truly a day to break records on the Convo’s historic day. The Bobcats look to keep the magic going in the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Feb. 6th against Akron.