Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: ‘Cats Look To Bounce Back In Akron
By: Taylor Jedrzejek
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Ohio has only lost four games this season and all but one of those losses came in blowout fashion.
But the Bobcats have made a habit of having a short memory.
After each of their first three losses, Ohio has come back to beat their next opponent by at least 14 points. Ball State has gotten an angry ‘Cats team twice this season, losing by 15 on January 12 and 32 on February 2. Western Michigan was the other unlucky team, catching Ohio on February 16, three days after their lackluster loss in Toledo.
So, who gets to face the Bobcats this time? That would be Akron.
Not only will the Bobcats have the sting of defeat as motivation, but they will also walk into the JAR on Saturday evening knowing that they beat this Zips team by 22 points less than a month ago.
In that game in the Convo, Ohio jumped out to a 15-point lead in the first, with Erica Johnson scoring 11 points in the quarter, and the Bobcats never looked back, cruising to a 92-70 win.
Johnson finished that game with a double-double, tossing in 22 points and grabbing 11 boards. Gabby Burris added 21, which remains her highest output in her previous 14 games.
Ohio will need more of the same from their top scorers if they want to pull themselves off the mat. The Bobcats shot just 20 percent from the field in Wednesday night’s 73-43 loss to Buffalo. That shooting performance was Ohio’s worst in the last five seasons.
The Bobcats previous worst shooting performance was their 26-point loss to Toledo when they shot just 24 percent. They bounced back from that game by shooting at a 45 percent clip in their win over Western Michigan.
But the Zips are also coming into their game with the Bobcats one a two-game winning streak, including an eleven point win over Buffalo. Akron is also 4-2 since their loss to Ohio and is making a late-season surge up the MAC standings. The Zips have also proven to be a good team in the friendly confines of the JAR, touting a 9-3 home record.
The near-perfect inverse of that stat is the Bobcats record on the road. Away from the Convo this season, Ohio is 9-1.
Something has to give in this matchup of MAC East teams. Tip-off in Akron is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday.