The most crucial play of Ohio's loss to Buffalo on Saturday might have happened before the game even started.
Point Guard Quintana Ward hurt her ankle during the pre-game shoot around, forcing her to watch from the bench for the majority of the game. The Bobcats struggled to replace her veteran presence as they committed 26 turnovers in a 67-63 loss.
Our team is way too deep to make excuses like that
coach Sylvia Crawley said. We have other players that should be able to step up. We just have to get it done.
The Bulls used the inside-outside game of Heather Turner (15 points) and Stephanie Bennett (18)to create havoc on Ohio's defense. The Bulls, which ranked eighth in the Mid-American Conference in 3-point shooting percentage coming into the game, shot 58 percent from that range.
Buffalo beat us at our game tonight Crawley said. They did everything that we like to do and controlled the tempo of the game.
The Bobcats on the other hand were unable to establish any inside presence. Center Chandra Myers (wrist) and forward Lauren Hmiel (ankle) were both forced to leave the game for extended periods with injuries, which allowed Buffalo to focus on stopping Ohio's 3-point shooters.
The Bobcats, which lead the conference in 3-point percentage, were held to just 21 percent from 3-point range.
We weren't getting the post the ball when we needed to said guard Jennifer Bushby, who started her first ever game as point guard. I think we play our best basketball when we play inside-out and we just didn't establish that tonight.
The Bulls(13-13, 6-7 MAC) led for most of the game and the entire second half, but despite being down by as much as 13 with 11:54 to play, the Bobcats closed to within three points and had multiple chances to tie the game in the closing minutes.
Ohio (15-10, 8-4 MAC) then went on a 12-3 run in the next three minutes to pull within four, which was the closest they had been since halftime.
The Bobcats were still down four when Buffalo missed the front end of a one-and-one with under a minute to play. Bushby tried to push the ball up the court, but the ball went off her foot and Kohn watched the ball roll out of bounds. The Bobcats were forced to foul again, but this time Ashley Zuber went to the line and connected on both her free throws to extend the Bulls lead to six and end Ohio's chances of a comeback.
That's one thing that we have struggled with all season is executing down the stretch
Kohn said. We didn't do a good job of finding the open player...it's definitely something we need to improve on.
Out of four conference losses, this was Ohio's third loss at home. Making the loss even harder to swallow was the fact that the Bobcats had a chance to take a hold of second place, with Miami losing to Bowling Green. A win would have set up a pivotal game on Wednesday for first place, but now Ohio will be strugging just to grab a bye in the tournament.
I don't know how to explain it
Kohn said. It seems like we play our best basketball on the road.
Leading Scorers:
(Ohio) Jennifer Bushby, 18
(Buffalo) Stephanie Bennett, 18
Leading Rebounders:
(Ohio) Chandra Myers, 5
(Buffalo) Bennett, 7
Leading Assists:
(Ohio) 3 tied at 2
(Buffalo) Bennett, 5
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Matt O'Donnell
