Ohio began the new calendar year on a sour note, as the Bobcats failed to win their Mid-American Conference opener for the second consecutive season.
Northern Illinois (5-6, 1-0 MAC) breezed past Ohio 74-51 on Saturday in DeKalb, Ill to end its three-game losing streak and bounce back to on the year. Ohio (5-7, 0-1 MAC) has now lost six of its last eight contests.
“We’ve got a lot to work on,” said Ohio coach Bob Boldon. “We didn’t expect to be great in our first MAC game of the season. I thought we’d be a little bit better than we were.”
Ohio fell behind early and didn’t claim the lead until 5:01 remained in the first half when junior guard Mariah Byard buried a three pointer. However, Ohio trailed 29-27 at the break.
Byard tied for the most points in the contest with 17, as she was five of eight from behind the arc.
Freshman guard Quiera Lampkins capitalized from the charity strip, converting nine of 11 free throws to add to her 13 points. She also grabbed six boards.
The Huskies had five players enter the scorebook with double digits, including four of the five original starters.
Redshirt guard Danny Pilliam posted 17 points to go along with seven rebounds. Freshman guard Jazmine Harris came off the bench and had 15 points in just 18 minutes of play.
Overall, the stats told the tale of the game for Ohio. Although they only gave up the ball once more than Northern Illinois with a 13-12 turnover ratio, the Bobcats struggled shooting from the floor and finished with a 25 percent field goal percentage (14 of 56). The Huskies, meanwhile, shot 53 percent (26 of 49).
“I thought (Northern Illinois) did a nice job of guarding us,” Boldon said. “It took us out of what we were trying to do a little bit. Obviously we couldn’t get a shot to fall. That made for a long, frustrating night offensively.”
The Bobcats' four-game road trip is now in the books and will look forward to playing on their own court for five of their next seven games.
Ohio will return to action on Jan. 9 against Miami, which will travel to The Convo with a 4-8 record, including an 88-78 lost to Western Michigan on Saturday.
“We’ll get back to practice this week and work on some things and hopefully put a better effort on the floor vs. Miami,” Boldon said.
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