search
Donate

Sports

[Alex Michalec | WOUB]

Ohio’s struggles continue in blowout loss

By:
Posted on:

< < Back to ohio-struggles-continue-in-blowout-loss

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – The beginning of the 2022-23 season has not been kind to the Ohio Women’s Basketball team, as they dropped their third game in a row to start the year against No. 8 Ohio State.

After losing key seniors Cece Hooks, Erica Johnson and Gabby Burris, the new look Bobcats are struggling to find their footing. After disappointing losses to seemingly inferior opponents in LIU and Longwood, the expectations to pull off an upset against a top 10 team with two players on the Wooden Award Preseason Watch List were slim to none.

No opinions changed after the final buzzer.

From the jump, Ohio State utilized its aggressive full-court press, which Ohio struggled with all night. When the Bobcats did not turn the ball over, the offense still looked panicked and in disarray. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes looked like a machine on both sides of the ball.

Yaya Felder of Ohio University, tries to advance toward the net as she is being blocked by, Hevynne Bristow of Ohio State University, and Emma Shumate of Ohio State University
Yaya Felder, 2, of Ohio University, tries to advance toward the net as she is being blocked by, Hevynne Bristow, 3, of Ohio State University, and Emma Shumate, 5, of Ohio State University [Charlie Nick | WOUB]
The Ohio State defense forced 20 turnovers in the first half alone, and generated nearly as many turnovers in the game for the Bobcats as Ohio had total rebounds. Every press, corner trap, shot contest, and rebound looked flawless, stifling any potential spark Ohio had to make this game a genuine contest.

Meanwhile on offense, the Buckeyes could get any look they wanted. The scariest part: they barely ran set plays. Ohio State’s guards could easily penetrate and just find the open player, picking apart Ohio’s defense with ease. If it were not for an off shooting night, the margin of victory could have been a lot more egregious.

Despite things getting out of hand for the Bobcats in a hurry, Yaya Felder was a bright spot as she scored a season-high 21 points. Despite this, Ohio State had this game on cruise control, winning comfortably 86-56.

Ohio head coach Bob Bolden is already looking ahead at conference play as inspiration for a positive season for the young squad.

“Our chance to get an at-large bid [to the NCAA Tournament] is none now,” Bolden said. “It is nice to start thinking about preparing for January MAC games and trying to be a better team than the day before.”

The Bobcats look to get their first win of the season when they host IUPUI Sunday at 2 p.m.