Ohio will host Bowling Green on Saturday and look to potentially clinch a MAC regular season title.
Kiyanna Black said she didn’t even know there were women’s basketball banners hanging in The Convo’s rafters. If there were, they probably occurred back in “19-something.”
To an extent, she’s correct. There are three white banners hanging above the one of the court’s corners. It’s been 20 years since the program had anything noteworthy to add to the collection.
That, however, may change shortly.
Wednesday’s win over Buffalo sealed Ohio’s first Mid-American Conference East Division title in school history — or at least a share of it. Holding a three-game lead over Akron with three games remaining means a win on Saturday would give the Bobcats the outright title.
“When you come to practice everyday and see the banners hanging in the gym, I think every player, every coach hopes that they can somehow put his or her stamp on a program,” coach Bob Boldon said. “And the most common way to do that is add a year to a banner, which I noticed hasn’t been added for sometime.”
Perhaps winning the East Division won’t merit a new stamp, but after a Ball State loss, the Bobcats have a two-game lead in the MAC.
A win Saturday against Bowling Green, a squad Ohio has already beaten by 25 points, would just about wrap up the conference standings in the regular season and award the Bobcats the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament.
“I think it’s really exciting and I’m really happy for the kids,” Boldon said. “They put in a lot of work this summer to try to get to this position and it’s exciting.”
Yet Boldon is never satisfied. Even in the midst of a historic moment with a team he’s only in his second season with, he keeps his mind solely focused on finishing out the season with three wins over the three worst teams in the East Division (Bowling Green, Kent State and Miami).
The only way to get a true glimpse of the rapid transformation of the team came from senior guard Mariah Byard who has now played on the worst team in school history, and potentially, the best team ever.
“It’s really great,” Byard said. “I can’t put it any other way. It’s a really great year to go out on. I mean, my first three years here were kind of tough, so for us to accomplish something like this is awesome.”
There were no smiles in the press conference following the historic feat. Although the players were happy and said it was a good feeling, it’s hard to be joyous after allowing 46 points in the second half.
But it also showed this season isn’t over. Sure, there’s three games remaining, but there’s also the MAC Tournament in Cleveland.
Boldon isn’t alone in never being satisfied, because his team isn’t either. Becoming the first team to at least share the East Division wasn’t enough.
“I mean, it’s exciting,” Black said. “But we really want the MAC Tournament championship banner.
Maybe it’s time to dust off the banners from “19-something.”
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
