Sports
Ohio Women’s Basketball: Bobcats hold off late Kent State push; escape with 85-70 win
By: Nick Viland
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The Ohio Bobcats (10-5, 8-4 MAC) continued their dominance as they won their fifth game in their last six matchups as they defeated the Kent State Golden Flashes (5-3, 4-1), 85-70.
Ohio held a 14-point lead over the Golden Flashes late in the fourth quarter. Kent State heated up and made it a four-point game with all the momentum and Bobcats’ leading scorer, Cece Hooks, recorded her fifth foul.
Gabby Burris took over for the Bobcats and sealed the deal as she made nine free throws over the last two minutes of the game, and Ohio ended on a 11-0 run.
“I’m definitely always there and I’ll always be there for my team. I’ll be ready to step up whenever my name is called,” Ohio starting forward Gabby Burris said.
In the tale of two halves the main difference were the free throws. In the entire first half there were only two free throws combined. The second half was a combined 32.
“The game changed in the second half it was choppy and it had a different feeling around it,” head coach Bob Boldon said. “That’s not something me or my team can control, you just have to adjust to what’s going on and play.”
Prior to fouling out, Cece Hooks still was the team leader in points with 29 along with nine assists and six rebounds.
Kent State came into Athens on a five-game winning streak, but the last time the team played was on January 9 against Ball State. So, Ohio had to prepare for a team that has not played an opponent in 25 days.
“We were familiar with their personnel, so that helped,” Boldon said. “They didn’t put any new stuff, so we had a pretty good idea of what they were going to do.”
Ohio will travel to play Bowling Green (13-4, 9-3) on Saturday at noon.