Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: Bobcats win in blow out against Notre Dame College
By: Thomas Garverick
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Athens, OH – The Ohio women’s basketball team (2-0) said, “class dismissed” to Notre Dame College (1-2) with a 93-37 victory on Ohio’s annual Education Day Thursday morning at the Convocation Center.
For a team who was supposed to have team growing pains with the amount of turnover they lost in the offseason, the Bobcats’ looked like they were in mid-season form. It all started with getting things done on the defensive side of the floor, forcing a whopping 37 turnovers, 25 via steals.
“We aren’t as athletic as we have been in the past,” head coach Bob Bolden said. “But to see our kids take pride in what we do and understanding our principals in guarding and such, it’s nice. It’s a nice step. There’s still a lot of games to be played and a lot of different types of opponents on the schedule so we’ll see how it goes. To this points to a good start.”
That set the stage for the Bobcat offense – one that was Jekyll-and-hide a year ago, to take off and explode.
Senior Taylor Agler did what she does best – play role of facilitator en route to a career-high 10 assists that saw junior forward Kendall Jessing set new personal bests herself, with an 11-point and six-rebound effort.
Jessing, who played behind the likes of Kiki Lampkins, Yamonie Jenkins, Hannah Boesinger and Jasmine Weatherspoon, realizes this is a new era of basketball in Athens and it’s time for her and her fellow teammates to step up.
“When we were younger we had a lot of girls in front of us who were more talented,” Jessing said. “So, we took those practices and those roles to get better. Not that they’re not here, it’s our opportunity to take on a new role and we’re adjusting well to that.”
Jessing and the Bobcat offense, already up 25 at the break, didn’t pump the breaks as they poured on another 32 points in the third quarter alone – large-in-part to the team’s 39 points off turnovers, a number that had Boldon pleased.
A more encouraging sign for the Bobcats was freshmen guard Cierra Hooks and freshmen forward Gabby Burris— who both ended up pacing the Bobcats’ with 17 apiece – both game highs.
Hooks, the Dayton, Ohio native, has made the most of her opportunities in the early stages of the season.
“I try to work really hard in practice and when I get the opportunity on the floor, I just play and try not to mess up,” Hooks said. “While I’m out there, I want to do the best for me, but I also want to do the best for my teammates.”
With the game way, out of reach even in the early moments of the second half, Hooks and Burris led the way for the Bobcat bench to nearly double Notre Dame College’s 27 points as they amassed 50, over half of the team’s total points.
The Bobcats are back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 22 when they travel to Huntington, West Virginia to face Marshall with tip-off set for 5 p.m.