Sports
Heroics not enough as Ohio Women’s Basketball loses in overtime to BG, still clinches MAC Tournament
By: Marc Goldstein
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — As the ball left ReRe Jennings’s hand and the buzzer went off to end the fourth quarter, the entire flow of the game was supposed to shift in the favor of Ohio (15-11, 9-6 MAC). Jennings hit a miraculous game-tying shot to send the game to overtime and tie the score at 52 apiece. However, the emotional ending to regulation could not save Ohio as it ran out of steam in overtime, losing 60-56 to Bowling Green (16-12, 8-8 MAC).
The game was far from positive for Ohio to begin the game. Bowling Green got the first five points of the game on a layup by Taya Ellis and a three by Paige Kohler. Elli Garnett got a triple back for Ohio to make it 5-3 under two minutes into the game. That would be the closest Ohio would get for quite some time. In fact, Ohio went nearly six minutes without any points. Bowling Green would not take complete advantage of that drought for Ohio, only scoring eight points in that span, making the lead 13-3 with 2:54 in the first.
In the second, the Falcons got the quarter going with a three by Jasmine Fearne to make it 22-8. Bella Ranallo would get the deficit back down to 10 with a triple of her own. However, the teams would trade stretches of offensive ineptitude and defensive stops for the rest of the half as the Falcons led 30-20 at halftime.
During the first half, Ohio shot just 20% from the field which made it very hard to establish itself on offense. The 12 turnovers for Ohio also made it rather difficult to string together anything in hopes of embarking on a comeback.
“If we could have made a couple of more shots in the first half, I don’t think it would have been as close,” said Tabeling. “We would have had more momentum. It would have definitely kept us in the game a little bit more.”
Tabeling would bring Ohio back within single digits with a three just under a minute into the third quarter. However, Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick got an and-one opportunity on the fastbreak to push the lead for Bowling Green back to 34-23. Every sequence of strong offensive play by Ohio was followed by three more possessions of uncoordinated action. The frustration reached a boiling point at the 6:22 mark of the third quarter. After giving up a number of offensive rebounds, Ohio head coach Bob Boldon subbed out his entire starting lineup and left them all on the bench for nearly four minutes. In that time, the lead for Bowling Green remained in the double digits. By the end of the third, Ohio trailed 46-37 and was grasping at anything it could use to carry over to the final quarter.
As the fourth quarter got underway, Ohio turned up the heat defensively. It turned to a 1-3-1 trap in the backcourt. At its best, it forced turnovers and bad shots for Bowling Green. At its worst, it took valuable time off the shot clock and shortened the amount of time Ohio was forced to spend in its full court defense. These adjustments allowed for Ohio to make a strong push back into the game.
Once overtime started, the emotional carryover from the ending to the fourth allowed Ohio to jump out to a 56-52 lead with 3:00 left in overtime after Garnett hit a shot from deep. Those would be the final points Ohio scored in the game. Through free throws and a layup made by Ellis, Bowling Green tied the game. Ellis would make two free throws on the next possession with 1:10 to go. Tabeling would not be able to come up clutch as she was stripped by Kohler with 4.9 seconds left, who made two free throws to finish off the game.
Over the course of the game, neither team did much to inspire confidence offensively. Bowling Green might have won, but it only shot 29% compared to Ohio shooting 26% from the field. The numbers from deep were not much prettier as Bowling Green shot just 16% from beyond the arc while Ohio hit just 20%. The teams each had 20 turnovers, but that is a metric that particularly rankled Boldon.
“We’ve just been careless with the basketball,” said Boldon. “I don’t think my staff and I are doing a very good job of fixing it. When we do something wrong the whole season, that means it is on the coaching staff and that starts with me… It’s very frustrating.”
Despite the loss, Ohio was still given some good news. With Eastern Michigan’s loss to Miami, Ohio was able to clinch a berth in the MAC Tournament for the first time since the 2023-24 season. Moreover, Ohio will be attempting to get its first win in the MAC Tournament since the 2020-21 season.
“I’m happy that we’re going to have a chance to play in (the MAC Tournament),” said Boldon. “We’re going to have to play better basketball up there, but (the MAC Tournament) is something we want to do this season. We wanted to get to Cleveland and we’re going to do that.”
Ohio now has more to play for over its final three games. However, those games are going to decide a lot with regards to seeding. Ohio will conclude the season with games against the two teams with the best records in the conference. Those games should help to determine where Ohio stands in the conference hierarchy as well as figuring out which matchup is the most advantageous. Regardless, Ohio will need to shake off the tough shooting stretch that has plagued it over the past couple of games if it wants to reach its full potential and make some noise in Cleveland.