Pregame
Ohio (5-18, 0-11 MAC) came into the Western Michigan game riding a 10 game losing streak, the worst in program history.
Western Michigan (9-15, 4-7 MAC) was coming off back-to-back wins entering the contest, beating Bowling Green and Kent State.
Marquisha
Harris leads the Broncos, she's averaging 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per MAC game.
First Half
Ohio kept its regular starters for MAC play this season as Kiyanna
Black, Ashley Fowler, Symone
Lyles
, Erin Bailes
and Tina Fisher started for the Bobcats.
Western Michigan won the tip and got the first bucket of the contest two possessions later on a Marquisha
Harris layup. Alex Morton then knocked down a jumper to put the Broncos up 4-0.
Harris scored again on a jump shot from the elbow and WMU
got an early 6-0 lead.
Alex Morton drove the lane against Ohio and dished to Harris for a layup attempt that she was fouled on. She hit both attempts and put the Broncos up 8-0.
Tina Fisher finally got the first points of the game for Ohio on the ensuing possession with 15 minutes remaining in the first half. Symone
Lyles
worked her way to a contested layup on Ohio's next time down the court and put the Bobcats' fourth point on the board.
Morton knocked down a triple for WMU
right after that to make the score 11-4 with 13:53 left.
Harris recorded her eighth point of the game with 13 minutes remaining on a layup. Shavon
Robinson then answered for Ohio with a layup. Western Michigan led 13-6 after the bucket.
Miracle Woods then hit a layup for WMU
as the Broncos continued to pour it on.
Mariah Byard
breathed some life into the Bobcats with a three, but WMU's
Corie
Buchanan answered with layup on the other end and stopped a potential Ohio run.
Ashley Fowler knocked down a triple for the Bobcats on the ensuing possesion
and then Byard
got the shooter's roll from the elbow and sank a jumper to make the score 17-14 as Ohio trailed by just three with 9:37 left in the first half.
Ohio forced a turnover at the other end and Tina Fisher jumped off the bench, encouraging her team to keep working. Byard
then tied the game with a three pointer.
Buchanan was fouled on WMU's
nest drive to the hoop and sank one of her two attempts. WMU
led 18-17 with 8:45 left in the half.
Woods converted on an and-one play and then the Broncos added on another jumper to lead 23-17 with 7:48 left in the half.
Robinson attacked the rack for the Bobcats and earned a trip to the line. She converted on her second attempt.
WMU's
A.J. Johnson gave Fowler a shot to the chest during a trip up the court, but the referee failed to notice it. Lyles
then cut to the rim and converted on a layup while earning a foul shot in the process. Her basket made the score 24-20 in Ohio's favor.
Ohio began to show some heart in the second half of the opening half, Robinson made another layup, but missed her foul shot and tied the game at 23.
The Bobcats forced a shot clock violation on the ensuing defensive possession and Ohio's bench showed some positive emotion, something Ohio hasn't seen in a while.
Lexie
Baldwin hit a layup in transition after a nice pass from Robinson and took the lead for Ohio at 25-23 with 3:51 left in the half.
Robinson hit her first bonus attempt after a WMU
foul and then swished the second to give Ohio a four point lead.
Harris then knocked down one of two free throws and Fowler answered that for Ohio with a cutting layup to make the score 29-24 in Ohio's favor.
A.J. Johnson replied with a three, cutting Ohio's lead to two. Byard
then hit a triple for Ohio and increased the lead back to five with 1:15 left in the half.
Robinson earned a trip to the line on a bonus opportunity, but missed the first attempt. Ohio walked into the locker room with a 32-27 lead.
Halftime: Ohio 32, Kent State 27
Ohio led WMU
32-27 behind 11 points from Byard
, seven from Robinson, and five from Fowler and Lyles
.
The score at the half was a sight for sore eyes for Ohio fans as the Bobcats have been struggling to compete in MAC games this season.
WMU's
leading scorer in MAC play this season, Harris, had nine at the half, about three points behind her season average in conference play.
Second Half
Harris opened the second half with a layup and made the score 32-29 and Bailes
answered with a three pointer.
Harris then hit two consecutive jumpers to tie the game at 35, Lyles
made a layup to put them on top 37-35.
Morton answered with a layup for WMU
and tied the game, but Robinson got the lead right back for Ohio and took a 39-37 lead with 16:37 remaining in the game.
Jessica Jessing
missed a pair of free throws for WMU
and Byard
knocked down two of her own to put the Bobcats up 41-37 with 14 minutes remaining.
Robinson charged the hoop and earned two free throws, and she sank both of them. Ohio took a 43-37 lead after the two attempts.
Buchanan then made two free throws to cut Ohio's lead down to four. The Bobcats were playing good defense and forcing turnovers in the second half and momentum was in Ohio's favor with 12 minutes left in the game.
WMU
cut the lead down to two with a layup and made the score 43-41. Buchanan went to the line for WMU
and missed both attempts to tie the game. However, Harris rebounded the miss and made two of her own to tie the game.
Byard
then missed a deep three-pointer for Ohio after being closely defended by the Broncos. Buchanan and Harris then hit consecutive buckets to put WMU
up 47-43 with 9:36 remaining.
Harris tipped in her own miss with 7:45 remaining and gave the Broncos a 49-43 lead. Buchanan then drove coast-to-coast converted on a layup to put WMU
up by eight. Ohio was on a seven minute scoring drought during WMU's
run.
At the 6:30 mark of the second half, Ohio was shooting 17 percent from the field. Robinson then ended Ohio's drought with a free throw and made the score 51-44 with 6:20 left in the second half.
Aurielle
Anderson then knocked down a pair of free throws to out WMU
up 53-44. Jazmine
Windham then missed two free throws for WMU
, but Ohio missed on the other end and Johnson hit a jumper in transition fro WMU
. The Broncos led 55-44 after the basket.
Baldwin then badly missed on a three point attempt. Buchanan then converted on another jumper and Baldwin answered with a layup. WMU led 57-46 with 1:58 remaining.
Ohio had scored just 14 points in the second half with 1:45 left in the game as it was shooting a mere 15 percent from the field in the second half.
Morton then hit to free throws to increase WMU's lead.
Robinson hit two free throws after a flagrant foul on WMU's Woods as Ohio cut the lead down to eight after Bailes hit a three. WMU led 59-51 with 1:06 left.
Buchanan then hit two free throws and increased the lead back to 10 for WMU.
Robinson scored on a layup on an assist from Byard to make the score 61-53 with 32 seconds left in the game, but it was essenitally a stat sheet stuffer as the Bobcats had no shot at winning the game.
Anderson made one of two free throws for WMU and the Broncos went on to win 62-53.
Final: Western Michigan 62, Ohio 53
Ohio was outscored 35-21 in the second half as the Bobcats shot just 18 percent from the field.
Statistics
Robinson: 16 points on 4-17 shooting, three rebounds, two assists
Byard: 13 points on 4-10 shooting, one rebound, two assists
Lyles: Seven points on 3-6 shooting, nine rebounds, one assist
Reactions
"18 percent in the second half, it's very hard to win a basketball game when you shoot that." - Ohio coach Semeka Randall.
"That gut and swagger is lost right now with our team." - Randall
"Our team needs at least three people contributing in some sort of fashion, and that just wasn't there today." - Randall
"You can't think that you can just show up and beat teams, we're not good enough to do that." - Randall
"We missed a lot of points in the paint, easy layups and stuff like that and it didn't give us the energy ... we just didn't shoot well." - Symone Lyles
"We just have to finish, that's the main thing right now." - Mariah Byard
