Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball falls by 20 to Ball State
By: Joshua Jacob
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The Ohio Bobcats (4-15, 2-7 MAC) hosted the Ball State Cardinals (17-4, 9-0 MAC) for National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The conference matchup ended with the Cardinals proving their dominance, winning 81-61.
Ball State has been on a tear, steamrolling through the MAC. Their closest in-conference game was against Kent State (13-7, 6-2 MAC), which they won by nine points.
Ohio ended its rough streak last week with a win against Eastern Michigan (1-17, 0-8 MAC). After the win, the question mark was, with so many capable scorers, was one win enough to turn around their season?
The Cardinals started unconscious from behind the arc. Madelyn Bischoff hit two of the four threes, adding to Ball State’s 14-0 run. Kate Dennis broke the dry spell for Ohio, hitting a three of her own to put the Bobcats on the board. Dennis spoke on how her score helped the team’s mindset.
“Scoring first is great; I just wanted to get the momentum going and get all of us excited.”
From then on, Ohio gained its confidence back, spreading the floor out. And get some more shots to feel, but with every point the Bobcats scored, the Cardinals had an answer to match it. All those shots led to Ball State ending the first half with seven made threes.
Even with all that firepower, Ohio was able to stop the lead from extending, bringing it down to 11 to end the quarter 29-18.
Ball State was flowing in the second half, seemingly incapable of missing from three. The stats reflected this, with them hitting 60% from behind the arc in the first half. Ally Becki and Bischoff ended the second half going 5-6 from three. Becki also picked up nine assists, setting herself up to end the game with a double-double.
With all the production, the Cardinals pushed the lead to 53-26, leaving a mountain of points the Bobcats would need to overcome for a comeback.
In the third, the bobcats would show signs of life, sticking to their game. Ohio would go on to outscore Ball State in the third 21-15.
The Bobcats got this advantage as the Cardinals only hit one three. Instead, they looked to force shots inside and still found some success. However, Ohio came alive from three, with Bailey Tabeling picking up three from long. Anyssa Jones helped her spread the floor and anchor the Bobcats, adding four more rebounds to the four she got in the first half.
With its hard work on the court, Ohio shed the lead down to 21, with Ball State up 68-47.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Green and White looked shaky. However, no one told Anyssa Jones that, as she went on to add eight more points to her game without missing a single shot. This brought her to 25 points on the night, a career-high for her and a team record for the season. Head Coach Bob Boldon spoke on how her play keeps him optimistic.
“To come back, and she is starting to get into some rhythm again, so I’m very optimistic about what February and March will look like with her on our squad,” Boldon said.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough to overtake the Cardinals, and Ball State would stay undefeated in the MAC.
The Cardinals would end the game hitting 16 threes on 49% shooting.
Becki led the way for Ball State, finishing the night with 23 points, 12 assists, six steals, and five rebounds.
“She’s just good. She’s what’s great about women’s basketball. She goes out, and she plays hard, and she passes it, and she shoots it. She had six steals, and she gets people involved,” Boldon said.
Ball State will return home to face Western Michigan, looking to stay undefeated and defend their home court for Alumni Day.
The Ohio Bobcats will hit the road, hoping to finally put the pieces together for an intense rivalry matchup with the Miami RedHawks in the Battle of the Bricks.