This year is a unique year for the Ohio women’s basketball team. At the conclusion of this year, coach Bob Boldon will have gone through his first full recruiting class and thus, graduate his largest senior class — five players.
But what makes this team unique is not the size of the class, rather the success of the class.
Three years ago, Boldon inherited a team that was struggling. His first year, the team went 9-21; not impressive. In year two, things changed, drastically. The program went from its worst year in its history to its best.
Ohio's senior trio of Yamonie Jenkins, Quiera Lampkins and Jasmine Weatherspoon are going to make sure that happens.
What the senior trio brings is experience of what it is like to be awful, and what it’s like to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“I have a bit of a concern when this senior class leaves,” Boldon said. “This senior class was our only link to being terrible, and they remember that very vividly.”
Both Weatherspoon and Lampkins chuckled when they recalled their freshmen seasons.
There were no seniors on that team. Jenkins, Lampkins and Weatherspoon didn’t have much time to get to know the system. From day one, they were thrown into it.
Looking back, that has helped them to prepare for their last season.
“I’ve learned a lot in terms of learning how to fight through stuff and winning,” Lampkins said.
Jenkins, Lampkins and Weatherspoon are Ohio’s “Big Three” that need to carry the Bobcats to their second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years.
The trio are all from the Columbus area and had played against each other prior to coming to Ohio.
What makes the three so dynamic is that though they have three different play styles, they still mesh and are very efficient on the floor together.
“They both drive and kick it off good, and I’m always there in whatever spot to get the ball from them,” Weatherspoon said.
Jenkins run the point. She’s quick, drives the lane and can finish, create a foul or kick out to the perimeter. Defensively, she is scrappy, leaves no room between her and the defender and is a pain for ball handlers to match up against.
Then you have Lampkins.
In years past, she didn’t really reach her full potential. Playing alongside Kiyanna Black, who graduated last spring, Black was generally in the spotlight, leaving Lampkins in the background. She is this year’s Black. Though the two have very different play styles, both have one commonality: the ability to take over the game.
For Weatherspoon, she mainly operates inside, but can flair to the high post and wings and get an open look. Defensively is where Weatherspoon is strongest. She led the team in blocks per game last year with 1.8 and averaged 4.7 defensive rebounds.
But that was last year. The task for the three key players to set the tone for the season. They know what it was like to play with Black. They know what it was like to be awful.
Now they don’t have Black and they’re good.
The challenge Jenkins, Weatherspoon and Lampkins have is to teach the team what they learned from their freshman year.
“Most of the girls came in when we were already winning,” Lampkins said. “They’ve seen us get championships and they’ve seen us get rings so they really don’t have that type of fight that we have in them.
“We try to help them out and encourage them just to fight through little stuff … and keep doing what we do best.”
That’s the task the “big three” are going to be faced with this year along with the other two seniors. And it’s not so much on Boldon to get that point across as much as it is the players that had to play through it.
“We’re all seniors,” Weatherspoon said. “We are trying to (have) the best year, get another year on that banner and do something remarkable.”
