coach Semeka Randall said. We need this from her from this point out.
Three of Poff's 3-pointers came after an eight-minute drought for Ohio.
Jenny Poff hit all the right notes.
The junior guard sang the national anthem and then carried the Bobcats to a 68-58 victory over Kent State yesterday at The Convo.
She scored 24 points and shot six of nine from 3-point range in a big game for Ohio. The win put the Bobcats into a tie for second place in the Mid-American Conference East Division.
It was really special for her to find her shooting touch coach Semeka Randall said. We need this from her from this point out.
Three of Poff's 3-pointers came after an eight-minute drought for Ohio.
The Bobcats held a 40-32 lead following a Jennifer Bushby layup at the 17:40 mark in the second half. But the Bobcats would miss five shots and turned the ball over nine times before Poff made two free throws with 9:11 to play.
Poff then knocked down two more 3's in the next four possessions, including one that beat the shot clock at the 6:41 mark.
Also in that stretch, she scored Ohio's first two points in seven minutes, coming off of free throws at the 9:11 mark.
Poff spent the first five minutes of Ohio's slump on the bench, and she knew that she had to do something about it.
When I got in I was just like... 'I've got to hit these for my team
' she said. So
if (Kent State) was going to give me an inch
I was going to take it.
Despite the lack of scoring in that stretch, the Bobcats
still led.
Ohio held Kent State to seven points in that span and kept the Golden Flashes scoreless for the first 5:25.
The Bobcats forced seven turnovers in that time.
That's a credit to Ohio's defense and their team
Kent State coach, Bob Lindsay said. They forced us into whatever mistakes we made.
The Bobcats were also able to keep Kent State's Anna Kowalska to 14 points and five rebounds, despite her height advantage.
Everyone had a shot at her. Even Poff at 5 feet 5 inches, guarded the 6 foot 4 inch Kowalska.
Randall praised Ohio's defense following the game.
There's going to be days where you're not going to make a lot of shots
she said. The one thing you can do is rely on how hard you play defensively and how much pride you take
in getting stops.
Another thing the Bobcats were able to do was make free throws.
Ohio normally struggles from the charity stripe but shot 20-of-24.
It was huge
forward Lauren Hmiel said. If we continue to do that
it will really help us in the long run.
