Sports
Ohio Struggles Down The Stretch In MAC Opener
< < Back to ohio-struggles-down-stretch-mac-openerThe Bobcats struggled in their first conference game, losing to the Northern Illinois Huskies Saturday afternoon, 74-51. Home court advantage proved to be meaningless as the ‘Cats were 14-of-56 from the floor, which is exactly 25 percent.
The Huskies dominated the ‘Cats in almost every aspect of the game. They beat Ohio on the boards 45-32 and outscored the ‘Cats in the paint 28-12. The Huskies also dished out 15 assists as opposed to the ‘Cats’ seven.
The Huskies only attempted one 3-pointer in the entire game showing their strength down low, against a smaller Bobcat squad.
The ‘Cats were down 42-39 with just over 11 minutes left when the Huskies went on a 32-12 run to end the game.
Five Huskie players finished the game with double-digit scoring. Danny Pulliam led the way for the Huskies, scoring 17 points and collecting seven rebounds. The only double-double on the night came from Ally Lehman who scored 11 points while bringing down 10 rebounds.
"Northern Illinois did a nice job of guarding us," first-year head coach Bob Boldon said. "They took us out of a little bit of what we were trying to do. We just couldn't seem to get a shot to fall, and that made for a long, frustrating night offensively."
Mariah Byard led the ‘Cats in scoring, tallying 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. Quiera Lampkins was next in line with 13 points of her own, nine of which came from the charity stripe. Byard and Lampkins were the only two Bobcat players in double digits for scoring.
The Bobcats’ loss puts them at 5-7 (0-1) this season as Mid-American Conference play gets underway. The good news for the ‘Cats is five of their next seven games will be at home after playing for almost a month away from the Convocation Center. Ohio’s next contest will be in Athens against MAC East rival Miami (Ohio) on Thursday, Jan. 9, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.