Ohio opened the 2013 part of its schedule with a 68-62 win against Xavier Saturday, without junior guard and second leading scorer Shavon Robinson.
The victory was fueled by 23 and 20 point performances from Kiyanna Black and Erin Bailes, respectively, as Robinson is sidelined by an ankle injury.
“It’s big, especially if we can carry this on and start conference play with a win,” Bailes said.
The Bobcats dominated early in the first half and survived a scoring drought by playing stifling defense.
With just under 13 minutes remaining in the first half, Ohio lead Xavier 14-4. The Musketeers were shooting a dismal seven percent from the floor in the first half.
“(The defense) was huge; what was key was that when we couldn’t score, our defense still held us in there,” Ohio coach Semeka Randall said.
Xavier redshirt senior forward Jessica Pachko began to assert herself in the post in the second half, scoring a layup to give Xavier its first lead of the game at 33-32 with 15:19 remaining in the game.
The two teams traded points for most a portion of the second half.
Black’s 14 second-half points helped the Bobcats weather the flurry of baskets from Pachko and Shatyra Hawkes.
“(Black’s) learned what she’s capable of doing,” Randall said. “She’s starting to learn how special she can be for this basketball team.”
Black converted on a pair of free throws to put Ohio up 64-57 with 1:08 left in the game after XU had been threatening to take the lead. Xavier’s Ashley Wanninger hit a contested three in the corner on the next possession to keep the Musketeers' hopes alive.
But Bailes squelched any hopes Xavier had of winning the game, as she sank a jumper from the elbow with 33 seconds left. Bailes would then make two free throws to secure the win.
“Today was one of those games that we needed to win, and we had an answer for them,” Bailes said.
jm296009@ohiou.edu
