Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: Second Half Surge pushes Bobcats past Western Michigan
By: Jack Demmler
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Following a stunning comeback over the Buffalo Bulls, the Ohio women’s basketball team (8-4, 6-3 MAC) traveled to take on the Western Michigan Broncos (2-8, 1-7) on Saturday.
The Bobcats entered the game without key starter, redshirt junior guard Erica Johnson, who suffered a concussion in Wednesday’s game against Buffalo.
Despite offensive difficulties in the first half, Cece Hooks and the Bobcats flipped the script in the second half and went on to win, 69-63.
Ohio seemed to pick up from where it left off with an early 7-2 run in the first two minutes. Hooks started the game off hot for the Bobcats by scoring the Bobcats first eight points.
However, things began to stall offensively for Ohio as the Broncos sparked an 11-1 scoring run.
Western Michigan ended the first quarter with a 17-15 lead and showed no signs of slowing down as they went into half leading 39-28.
Hooks seemed to be the only shining spot for the Bobcats’ first half offense as she scored 13 of Ohio’s first quarter points and 19 of their 28 first half points.
However, Hooks found herself in foul trouble as she picked up her third personal foul with 5:45 left in the half and was forced to sit the remainder of the second quarter.
Ohio ended the first half with a 3:30 scoring drought.
The Broncos offense seemed too much to handle as they shot 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field and 46 percent (6-of -13) from beyond the arc.
Megan Wagner and Reilly Jacobson lead the way for Western Michigan in the first half with ten points apiece.
The Bobcats showed signs of life in the third quarter.
After facing their largest deficit of 14 points with 7:47 left in the quarter, Ohio was able to cut the deficit down to four as they trailed 52-48 with 1:23 left in the quarter.
Hooks had 31 points heading into the final quarter with four fouls as the Bobcats trailed 55-48.
Ohio road the wave of momentum into the fourth where they saw their first lead since the first quarter. Kaylee Bambule drilled a left wing three pointer to give the Bobcats the 62-60 lead with three minutes left.
Ohio did not look back as they ended the game with a 14-3 run over the final 5:45.
Hooks lead the Bobcats with 38 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.
An important piece to the Bobcats comeback victory was their ability to force turnovers and score off the turnovers. Defensively, Ohio finished with 12 steals and had 11 points off of Western Michigan’s 18 turnovers.
The Bobcats will look to extend their win streak as they travel to Eastern Michigan (8-6, 5-4) on Wednesday.