Ohio (17-12, 11-7 Mid-American Conference) defeated Miami (25-6, 16-2 MAC) by a dominant score of 77-62. In what was the last showing of the regular season for both teams, Ohio took down the top-seeded MAC team in Miami by winning the shooting battle.
Miami is second in the MAC in field goal percentage and first in three-point percentage, shooting 46% from the field and 35% from deep. Miami also holds its opponents to a 39% field goal for the game. Miami had none of that this game, as it shot 40% from the field and hit 29% of its three pointers. The defense faltered also, as Ohio managed to connect 46.4% of its three point attempts, scoring 39 points of shots from beyond the arc alone.
This Ohio win wasn’t possible without senior Elli Garnett. She was the teams leading scorer and rebounder, with 21 points and 11 rebounds. In her last game at The Convo, she left it all on the court for the Bobcats and it paid off, as they showed that they can match with anyone in the MAC tournament.
“She’s always played hard," Ohio head coach Bob Boldon said. “I think the second she stepped on campus, she brought that attitude. This team has shown a lot of growth over the years, over the season, but I think what Bella and Elli have brought this team another level of toughness, hustle and expectations.”
The Bobcats instantly applied the pressure on Miami in the first quarter, as Garnett scored the first seven points for Ohio, making her presence known. Miami’s first two offensive plays also ended in steals for Ohio’s Asiah Baxter, putting it in a tricky position. It was this aggressive gameplan and play Ohio came out with that allowed the team to win this game and take the quarter with a score of 17-14.
“I’m not here just to praise them but they’re good,“ Boldon said. “They move well without the basketball, they cut, you just have to do a good job of communicating ... They’re a very physical team so you got to keep cutting, and thats a hard thing to do."
Things got a bit closer between both teams in the second quarter, as Ohio hit a bit of a shooting slump and had a few careless turnovers. Miami took advantage of this, and it used Ohio’s mistakes as fuel for points. This resulted in a much closer than desired score of 32-21 going into the half with Ohio leading.
“They’re really good and they’re going to make a couple shots in a row," Boldon said. “They manipulated our zone a little bit and then I think some of it was we weren’t moving quite as aggressively as we needed to be.”
Ohio blew Miami out of the water and took complete control in the third quarter. The Redhawks shot decently well at a 50% clip but Ohio’s offense took over, shooting more shots on a higher 64% clip. The Bobcats went on a huge 15-0 run, which included 9 points from Garnett alone. Gigi Bowers also contributed with 5 of her own. Miami had no answer for this run and this was the game changing moment, as Ohio would have to go scoreless for a long time to allow Miami to crawl back into the game. The Bobcats made six out of their eight three point shots in this quarter, which was the most made in a quarter by either team during this game.
“We really work on getting to the rim and then the defense will slide over," junior guard Bailey Tabeling said. “They have those bigger girls down there, so sometimes you’re not going to be able to take that layup, just stopping and looking out, then being able to hit those threes. I think that's the best we shot all season.”
Miami tried to make the score close in the final quarter of play, cutting the lead to nine, but the offense was too streaky to make anything happen. Ohio grabbed any rebound off a miss and charged right back down the court to score again. Ohio got into the bonus quickly, which allowed numerous chances at the free throw line adding free points to the score.
Handing Miami its second conference loss of the season was a huge confidence booster for the team, especially one that needed some wins down the stretch despite clinching the MAC tournament. With this being the final game of the regular season, the girls look ahead to Cleveland to face off against Central Michigan in the MAC tournament.
“It just goes to show that we can play with anybody,“ Tabeling said. "We trust each other a lot, we know what plays we need to make and we’re able to make those adjustments whenever we need to.”
bg326422@ohio.edu
