BOWLING GREEN — Ohio redshirt freshman Erica Johnson laid on her back with the ball in her grasp and a sweaty defender wrapped around her. She had been knocked to the floor by Bowling Green’s Andrea Cecil after the two were battling for the rebound of Sydney Lambert’s blocked potential game-tying shot.
Johnson heard the final buzzer and then a whistle and had an uneasy feeling come over her.
“I thought there may have been a foul on the shot” Johnson said. “But when I saw my teammates helping me up and everyone was smiling, I knew everything was alright.”
The foul was on Cecil, but it didn’t matter. Johnson had snatched Bowling Green’s last chance of victory out of the air and Ohio (17-1, 6-1 Mid-American Conference) survived with an 82-79 win Saturday at the Stroh Center.
Entering Saturday’s game, Bowling Green (7-11 0-7 Mid-American Conference) wasn’t expected to give Ohio problems. The Bobcats main concern was that sophomore forward Gabby Burris was unable to make the trip due to injury. At the end of the game, coach Bob Boldon still had no update on the state of one of his most well-rounded players.
Down a player, Ohio knew it would need to rely heavily on young players such as Johnson and sophomore point guard Cece Hooks.
They didn’t disappoint.
The tandem of Johnson and Hooks — who both finished with 22 points — was Ohio’s best weapon in the first half. Their chemistry, which stems from being friends since the eighth grade, was a main reason why both players had 12 points at halftime and the Bobcats had a 48-32 lead.
“When we play good, our team plays good,” Hooks said. “When we stay in the fight, they stay in the fight.”
At that point it hadn’t been much of a skirmish, but that changed in the second half.
Bowling Green outscored the Bobcats 47-32 over the rest of the game and pushed the Bobcats to the brink of what could have been Ohio’s most heartbreaking loss of the season.
The Falcons’ Lambert and Morgan McMillen took a piece of Ohio’s momentum each time they shot the ball. The two combined for 43 points and were a major reason why Ohio was holding on to only an eight-point lead at the end of the third quarter.
With 10 minutes to play, a possible upset on the horizon and the thousands of fans packed into the orange and brown stands, Ohio had to fight to keep the Falcons off.
“We didn’t let the crowd get into our heads,” Hooks said. “I’m glad our team was able to fight through the adversity and get the win.”
For the Bobcats in the fourth quarter, the fight was harder than it needed to be. Ohio had multiple opportunities to put Bowling Green away at the foul line but faltered each time.
“11-of-25 is a bad number,” Boldon said. “We have too many good shooters to shoot that number. There’s certainly some disappointment but you have to be willing to deal with the disappointment and move onto the next play.”
Ohio did that.
With 5.8 seconds left and the Bobcats up one, Johnson made two free throws, and moments later, she was being helped to her feet to celebrate with her team.
The Bobcats were expecting a win, but it came tougher than expected. In the end, they were just ready to return the Athens with the win.
“It was rough,” Hooks said with an exhausted grin on her face. “I’m just ready to get out of here.”
