Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball demolishes Western Michigan 76-37
By: Marc Goldstein
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Some nights, everything is going right for a team. Some nights, everything is going wrong for a team. When Ohio (13-8, 7-4 MAC) took on Western Michigan (6-14, 3-7 MAC), Ohio took the mantle of team with everything going in its favor while Western Michigan likely could not have had a worse game. The 76-37 victory for Ohio was the culmination of a week’s worth of frustration being collectively let out as Ohio’s three-game losing streak got snapped.
The first quarter virtually belonged to Ohio. Western Michigan took a 4-2 lead with 8:24 left in the first, but Ohio erased the small deficit and never looked back. An 11-0 run for Ohio was started by a triple by Elli Garnett, who knocked down three over the course of the game for a second consecutive game. Aliah McWhorter would contribute a layup before threes by Asiah Baxter and Bailey Tabeling forced a timeout by Western Michigan.
Western Michigan would end the scoreless drought with a pair of field goals, but would then start another dry spell that spanned the final five minutes of the quarter. During that time, Ohio would continue to have the offense rolling as the team was able to find space and create open shots at will, creating a 25-8 lead after the first quarter. Ohio head coach Bob Boldon acknowledges the fact that getting out to a hot start early makes the game much easier for his team.
“We made shots early and that really helps,” said Boldon. “We shot the ball well in the first two quarters… Making shots will always make things look better. The ball was moving well. Our defense was good enough that it gave us a chance to play in transition. That’s when we are at our best. It’s easier to do that when we get stops and steals.”
The second quarter looked a lot like the first. McWhorter got an and-one layup to open the scoring before hitting another close-range field goal a minute later. After Garnett hit another three, the lead had ballooned to 25 for Ohio. As the first half ended, Ohio’s 47-14 lead was as impressive on the scoresheet as it was on the court. Ohio gave up just six points in the second quarter with only two field goals going down for Western Michigan.
In the first half, Ohio was able to hold Western Michigan to just 26.1% from the field while going 0/11 from deep. Ohio’s offense shot 59.4% from the field with seven triples. Moreover, the defense for Ohio made life miserable for Western Michigan as it forced 18 turnovers.
“We have faith in ourselves and our teammates,” said Tabeling. “We practice shooting everyday so we can shoot without even thinking. Today, they just happened to fall and kept on falling.”
Nothing about the third quarter truly suggested anything had changed for the Bobcats. Although the team would miss a number of shots that were falling in the first half, the defensive effort by the Bobcats were enough to limit the Broncos to just 11 points in the quarter. A perfect encapsulation of the entire game came in a single sequence. An airballed three for the Broncos fell right into the waiting arms of Garnett, who dribbled the ball up the court and dished it over to an open Tabeling to knock down a three.
The score at the end of the third being 59-25 in favor of the Bobcats does not do the dominance justice. The Broncos only knocked down their first three of the game with 2:30 left in the third. Everything that the Bobcats did, for the most part, worked and resulted in a positive outcome.
The fourth quarter was more of the same from the third. Ohio continued to get the looks it wanted and stifled any attempts from Western Michigan to find any sort of rhythm at either end of the floor.
The blowout for Ohio was the first one in a while, but also served as a reminder to some of the holdouts from the last couple of rough seasons how far the program has come. Tabeling, in particular, was the lone bright spot on last season’s 6-23 team and reflects on the transformation of the team.
“Last year, we were in Western Michigan’s place,” said Tabeling. “We’ve definitely taken a step forward from last year. We’re more confident with each other. I think that last year, there was a little bit of hesitation with some people. This year, everyone is… on the same page pretty much all the time.”
When the final buzzer sounded, the 37 points given up by Ohio marked the lowest output for an opponent this season. Western Michigan shot just 29% from the field during the game and went 3/22 from deep. Compared to the 46% mark for Ohio that included going 11/25 from long range, the dominance is put on full display. The turnovers for Western Michigan reached an inconceivable 31 for the game, much of which can be attributed to a combination of sloppy passing and suffocating defense from Ohio.
After the three losses for Ohio, it was natural to start thinking that the hot start to conference play was a mirage and Ohio would go back to the cellars of the MAC. However, a big win over a team that entered the game in the bottom third of the conference standings affirms the fact that Ohio is, in fact, a team capable of making noise over the back half of its conference slate. A softer schedule, combined with an ability to bounce back, gives Boldon confidence in his squad moving forward.
“The joy in coaching this team is that I think those two losses last week didn’t defeat them,” said Boldon. “This is the result of two good days of practice. To come in and realize that we are not a finished product is great. We know that we have things we can do better.”