In the race for a first-round bye in the conference tournament, the Bobcats tripped and fell. Hard.Three days after its best offensive output of the season, Ohio had its worst, shooting 30 percent from the field and turning the ball over 22 times in a 61-47 loss to Buffalo last night. It definitely looks like we did
guard Lauren Kohn said when asked if Ohio was looking ahead to Saturday's matchup with No. 16 Bowling Green. We didn't come out ready to play.To say Ohio (15-11, 8-6 Mid-American Conference) struggled with its shots in the first half is an understatement. The Bobcats shot just under 21 percent in the half and missed all seven of their 3-pointers. Luckily for them, the Bulls (9-17, 4-10 MAC) didn't fare much better, shooting under 29 percent from the field and missing all three of their 3-point attempts.The result of those statistics was a 16-16 tie at halftime.Once we went into the locker room tied up it gave Buffalo confidence that they can hang with us coach Sylvia Crawley said.That confidence came through as an 11-0 Buffalo run midway through the half extended a one-point Bulls lead to 12 and put the game out of reach.Crawley said the loss was eerily similar to the team's 53-52 road loss to Toledo two weeks ago.When we go on the road for two games
(the players) save their energy for the game they want to win
she said. During certain games
they think they can halfway do things and expect to win
but that's not reality.Kent State's loss to Bowling Green Tuesday night put the Bobcats in position to take the second seed from the MAC East, but last night's loss dropped them back to the third slot.It's definitely frustrating because we worked really hard to be in this position
guard Rachel Frederick said. This loss is going to make things hard on us in the long run as we get ready for the tournament.Crawley also talked about the significance of the stinging defeat.We talked about how important it is to get the second seed and take advantage of this opportunity
Crawley said. They had a chance to do something special
and they know that ' no one's going to just give us the game.
