Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: Hooks Reaches Milestone as Bobcats get Revenge at Ball State
By: Max Brunke
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The Ohio Bobcats (10-6, 9-5 MAC) defeated the Ball State Cardinals (9-8, 7-6) on the road Wednesday night in an 88-66 victory.
The Bobcats came into the game off a 16-point loss to Bowling Green on Saturday, and it was glaringly obvious through the first quarter that they wanted to avenge themselves
Ohio got off to a hot start, kicking off the game with a 12-2 run. That momentum carried the Bobcats through the remainder of the game, never allowing Ball State to lead.
After Saturday’s low scoring contest, it was relieving to the Ohio coaches to see 46 points on the board just halfway through the contest.
“We’ve worked on all the stuff that’s been hindering us the last couple of games,” Associate head coach Tavares Jackson said. “Tonight it was nice to see shots go in.”
Another big stat line difference between these two games were turnovers, an important aspect of the Bobcats playstyle. They tallied a season high 23 turnovers against Bowling Green, and finished tonight with only ten.
“It’s been uncharacteristic of us to turn the ball over the last couple of games, especially the high volume of turnovers,” Jackson said. “We’ve really made it a point to tell our team ‘Let’s get back to what we do, let’s get back to Ohio basketball.’”
Senior Cece Hooks continued her scoring ways tonight, leading the Bobcats with 22 points. Her performance tonight elevated herself to the 2,000 points scorer’s list, becoming the second Bobcat to do so. The last was Caroline Mast, who is the leading scorer in program history with 2,449 points between 1982 and 1986.
“There’s not enough adjectives [to describe] her game,” Jackson said. “She’s one of the best players, not only in our conference, but in the country.”
The Bobcats will hope to keep the momentum against Western Michigan (3-12) Saturday as we inch closer to the MAC tournament in early March.
