Sports
Women’s basketball: ‘Cats shoot ice cold in loss to Toledo
< < Back to womens-basketball-cats-shoot-ice-cold-loss-toledoFour days after an emotional win over Akron, Ohio turned in its lowest point total of the season in a 52-33 loss to Toledo on Sunday.
“There’s nothing really to say,” Ohio head coach Semeka Randall said after the loss. “Shoot the ball, make some layups, knock down some of the open shots, and maybe this could be possibly a different basketball game.”
The Bobcats shot just 21 percent Sunday, converting only 12 of 56 shots with no players in double figures. The shooting percentage is the lowest by a Bobcat team all season.
“Hell, I thought every shot I was gonna shoot was gonna go in,” Randall said, referring back to her playing days. “This generation is just a tad bit different, like they overthink it and over-coach it in their heads, and they allow it to impact them and affect them in the middle of a game.”
Tenishia Benson’s streak of 12 consecutive games in double figures was ended as she made none of her eight shots and only scored three points. Shavon Robinson scored eight on 4-14 shooting, and Mariah Byard led Ohio with nine points on 3-6 from the floor.
“It’s really frustrating. I felt like we kept attacking, it’s just that our shots weren’t falling…we played great defense, but the shots aren’t falling,” Byard said.
Despite the shooting woes, Ohio did play well defensively for most of the game. The ‘Cats forced Toledo to commit 22 turnovers in the game and held the Rockets to 32 percent shooting in the first half.
The Bobcats found themselves playing from behind for the entire game, however, as Toledo started the game on a 10-0 run. Ohio fought to stay with the Rockets, climbing to within two possessions of the lead on several occasions before a 12-0 run by Toledo iced the game late in the second half.
One bright spot from today’s loss for Ohio was the return of second leading scorer and rebounder Porsha Harris. Harris played 15 minutes and scored four points in her first game since injuring her knee on January 4 against Buffalo.
“It was really good to see her back out there and start to get her flow back. We need that, we definitely need that,” Robinson said.
“We’re gauging,” Randall said about Harris’ minutes. “That’s been the story of our season here. We gotta figure it out as we go.”
Ohio (9-11, 2-4 MAC) will hope to have it figured out at MAC West opponent Central Michigan (11-9, 3-3 MAC) Wednesday.
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