Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: Hooks Records Triple-Double as Ohio Dominates Miami (OH)
By: Bryan Kurp
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — 31 points, 11 assists, ten steals. A triple-double for CeCe Hooks. Just another accolade she can add to her Bobcat career.
“There’s just so many things that [Hooks] does and she does them and I’m like ‘wow, didn’t think that would happen’ and then it trumps the last thing,” Ohio head coach Bob Boldon said. “The 2,000 points was crazy. There’s so few players in the entire country that ever do that. Now we’re already done talking about that because she just had a triple-double with ten steals and 30 points. It’s incredible.”
On Saturday, Hooks became the second-ever player in Ohio women’s basketball history to record a triple-double, the first coming last season by Erica Johnson.
“That’s hard [to achieve],” Hooks said. “I didn’t even know I had that many steals until some of my teammates came up to me and was like ‘you need two more steals for a triple-double’.”
Hooks’ impressive performance, which is something that has happened so many times in her Bobcat career, led Ohio (13-7, 11-6 MAC) to an 84-70 win over Miami (OH) (4-20, 3-17), the final game of a bizarre regular season for the Bobcats.
“It’s just been the weirdest four months I’ve ever coached,” Boldon said. “If we had do it all over again, I don’t know how I would do it the next time. There were so many variables.”
Erica Johnson returned for her first game since Jan. 30 against Akron. In 21 minutes of playing time, Johnson tallied 11 points.
“I thought Erica’s minutes were very encouraging,” Boldon said. “You can just see kind of the settling force she brings to the floor.”
Ohio had a shortened bench with both Caitlyn Kroll and Kaylee Bambule out. The Bobcats looked to other players to step up. Jasmine Hale played 28 minutes and accounted for nine points.
In addition, Kate Dennis, a true freshman who just joined the program in January, played a season-high 16 minutes and scored her first five points of her collegiate career, including a three pointer in the fourth quarter that gave Ohio a double-digit lead.
“It’s awesome,” Ohio senior Gabby Burris said. “I’m so happy for [Dennis] with the way she’s working and puts the work in. If you put the work in, you’re going to get the results.”
Burris chipped in 15 points for the Bobcats.
Next up, Ohio will look ahead to the MAC Tournament on Wednesday night. The Bobcats will face off against Ball State on Wednesday night in Cleveland.
“I’m excited to have a full team on Wednesday and see where we go with it,” Boldon said.