It looked like Ball State might walk out of The Convo with a win last night and end Ohio's winning streak.
Not in Quintana Ward's house.
The Bobcats nabbed their fifth conference win in a row in an 88-82 overtime victory against the Cardinals.
It was just all about pride
Ward said. They're not going to come in here and beat us on our home floor.
Ohio (12-8, 5-2 Mid-American Conference) was leading by 11 with 4:10 remaining in the game, but the Cardinals outscored the Bobcats 13-2 from there to tie it up 70-70 and send the game into overtime.
Ohio went into overtime with Kent State on Jan. 9 and came out with a loss. Small forward Lauren Kohn reminded her teammates of that loss in the huddle at the end of regulation.
We lost in overtime once and we're never going to do it again Kohn said.
Coach Sylvia Crawley said the team had a different composure this time around.
When we went to the bench in overtime
I looked at Jennifer Poff and she just had the sneakiest grin on her face like she knew we were going to win
Crawley said.
Ward struck early in overtime to start a 9-0 run for the 'Cats, but the Cardinals (9-11, 5-2 MAC) weren't through yet. They brought the game within four points, but four trips to the free throw line for Kohn ended the game. Kohn finished with 22 points, her third game in a row with that many points.
Lauren Hmiel, Jennifer Bushby, Kamille Buckner and Poff all finished in double figures in scoring for the Bobcats.
Ward netted eight points, shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field. Her 10 assists were a career high and also put her second on the Bobcats all-time career assists list.
This was a big game
and we knew it was going to be a fight until the end
Ward said. All that was going through my head was this is the last time I'm going to play Ball State at home.
Center Chandra Myers went out of the game with an injury at the 12:40 mark in the second half and was replaced by Buckner. Buckner finished with a career-high 10 points along with five rebounds.
Ohio now holds sole possession of first place in the MAC East after Bowling Green fell to Western Michigan last night,
79-73.
It feels good. It feels so good
Ward said. We're finally here.
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