CLEVELAND ' Lauren Kohn's career as a Bobcat is starting to look like a scene straight out of the movie Groundhog Day, except Bill Murray is not in the leading role ' she is.
In Groundhog Day, Murray is forced to relive one of the worst days of his life over and over again. But for Kohn, it isn't Groundhog Day that keeps reoccurring ' it's the first two rounds of the Mid-American Conference tournament.
In her first season as a Bobcat, Ohio defeated Central Michigan in the first round of the tournament only to lose to Eastern Michigan. In her next season, the Bobcats once again beat the Chippewas, only to lose to the Eagles. This Sunday, the Bobcats defeated Central Michigan 68-65 only to see that Eastern Michigan is, again, waiting for them in the quarterfinals.
So what makes Eastern Michigan so tough on the Bobcats?
There isn't one thing that I could point out
Kohn said.
Coach Sylvia Crawley knows exactly what the Bobcats need to do to end the cycle.
Kill the groundhog Crawley quipped. I like this scenario because particularly for our seniors they need to know that they can break out of this and beat Eastern Michigan.
In fact, Ohio has not made it past the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament since 1998, when it defeated Miami only to lose to Kent State in the semifinals.
Another factor that the Bobcats will be dealing with is fatigue. Tonight's game will be their fifth in 11 days.
It's going to be a tough game
Crawley said. (Eastern) got to sit there and watch us play. We tried to shuffle in a lot of players
but it is going to come down to mental toughness and this is the game we have to get past.
There is one thing that is different about this team than Ohio's teams of the past two seasons ' it enjoys playing on the road. The Bobcats are 9-5 on the road this season compared to 5-8 last season and 4-8 in 2005-06. Ohio has been even tougher in the conference, with a 6-2 record on the road.
Our team is a road team
Crawley said. Whether they wear white or green
we feel like we're the home team and that's what I like about this team.
Ohio lost to Eastern Michigan earlier in the season. The Bobcats led by 14 at halftime, only to be held to 26 percent shooting in the second half and lose the game 62-56 at home.
I think last game is one that we beat ourselves
Kohn said. They came out and played hard
they played intense and we didn't G? I think that is something that we can easily fix.
Throughout the movie, Murray's character makes mistake after mistake and in the end learns from those and ends up getting the prize '-
said Kohn when asked if the team is happy to be playing Eastern Michigan again. Hopefully
we'll be ready.
