Tabeling’s shooting is more than just the confidence she lets it fly with. Her numbers from beyond the 3-point line are truly an outlier, not just in the Mid-American Conference but in the NCAA as a whole. Tabeling shoots 43.7% from behind the arc, the second-highest mark in the MAC and the 16th-highest in Division I.
Despite playing significantly fewer minutes than the players surrounding her on the MAC leaderboard for 3-pointers made, Tabeling has also made the third-most 3-pointers in the conference. The rate at which Tabeling gets these long-range shots up is a testament to that confidence and how she views the game of basketball.
“Shooting has always been a big part of basketball,” Tabeling said. “Getting in the gym and taking time to actually practice on it and focus on it … made everything better.”
Tabeling might not have had the biggest scoring role for the Bobcats early this season, but her efficiency on the shots she’s been allowed to take has made her one of the team’s most dangerous offensive players.
Tabeling’s journey toward becoming an elite outside weapon has looked different from a lot of other stories with similar results. It wasn’t until Ohio took on Syracuse on Dec. 9 that Tabeling realized how good of a shooter she could be. Tabeling had a career-high 23 points and a season-high for any Bobcat with seven 3-pointers made.
Since then, Tabeling hasn’t looked back, embracing shooting as a skill that can define her game for years to come. Since becoming a starter for Ohio against Miami, Tabeling has turned into a primary scoring option for the team, with 3-pointers making up the majority of her shots.
In the six games since Tabeling became a starter, she’s averaging 31 minutes per game, taking nearly nine 3-point attempts per game. That number stands as a testament to not just how good of a shooter Tabeling is and has learned to be, but also to those hard hours put into mastering her craft, not fully knowing where it would take her.