Just one week after Ohio’s strong Mid-American Conference tournament push, the Bobcats will be back in The Convo participating in another tournament. Unlike the conference tournament, this one is on the national level.
The Bobcats will be playing in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The WNIT is made up of 48 of the best college Women’s Basketball teams in the nation that just missed the NCAA tournament.
Ohio will be hosting the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers in the first round of the tournament on Thursday.
UMBC and Ohio had very similar seasons. The Retrievers finished fourth in the America East Conference, while the Bobcats finished fifth in the MAC. Ohio went 18-13 (11-7 MAC), and UMBC went 16-14 (10-6 AEC)
To add to their very similar seasons, both teams won in the first round of their conference tournament by one point, and then lost to the No. 1 seed eventual champion in the second round.
The Bobcats' biggest advantage comes from being the home team. Ohio is 3-1 in its last four conference home games, including a 15-point win against its rivals and MAC champions Miami (OH).
UMBC has struggled recently on the road. The Retrievers are 1-2 in their last three away games. All three games have gone into double overtime. Despite three straight double overtime thrillers, UMBC's defense has still been very dominant in those games, as it has allowed less than 70 points in all three games.
While the Bobcats are heavily offense-oriented, the Retrievers have dominated defensively. UMBC allows only 58.2 points per game, which puts them fourth in the AEC. Junior forward Jade Tillman also leads the conference in steals with exactly two per game.
Not only does UMBC's success come from its defense, but it also excels in rebounding. The Retrievers are first in the AEC in rebounding with 36.7 per game.
That gives the Retrievers a big advantage over the Bobcats, as rebounding is their biggest weakness; however, just like UMBC, Ohio has strengths of its own.
Ohio has been able to put teams away with an overwhelming offense. It averages the second-most points per game in the MAC with 74.2. Ohio’s Junior guard Bailey Tabeling has averaged 14.5 points per game. Tabeling has shown that her scoring skills can completely take over a game.
Tabeling scored a career high 33 points in the first round of the MAC tournament to win the game. Fortunately for the Retrievers, teams have shown that if they can shut Tabeling down, they can win the game rather easily.
Ohio is 3-6 this season when Tabeling scored less than 10 points. In those games, it only averages 66.75 points per game, which is about 8 points lower than its average.
In the second round of the MAC tournament, Miami (OH) held Tabeling to just 7 points, which led to Ohio losing by over 30 and scoring its least amount of points all season.
Tabeling isn’t the only weapon Ohio has offensively, though. Redshirt Sophomore guard Monica Williams leads the whole conference in 3-point percentage with .423.
Both teams play completely different kinds of basketball. Whichever team is able to get control of the game using their game plan will most likely win the game. If the Bobcats get their offense going early and force the game into a shootout, they will be in a great spot.
If the Retrievers' defense can shut Tabeling down and enforce their dominant defense, they will also be right where they want to be, playing a slow, defensive type of game. Matchups make March college basketball great, and the two clashing styles should result in a great game of postseason basketball.
