The Ohio women's basketball team makes its first trip today to the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals since 2002. The No. 7 seed Bobcats will face No. 2 seed Kent State, and they are ready.
We've pulled together as a team now and we're playing so much better
freshman point guard Quintana Ward said. I know that we can take the MAC. To say the team is playing well would be an understatement. Two Ohio players -Erin Isbell and Simone Redd -recently received MAC accolades. Redd was named to the MAC All-Freshman and Honorable Mention teams, and Isbell last week shared MAC Player of the Week honors with, ironically, Kent State's Melissa DeGrate.
And Ohio has won its last two, the first a two-point win against Miami in the regular-season finale and the other a 71-43 blowout against Central Michigan in the first round of the MAC Tournament. Coach Lynn Bria called it our best team effort of the season. Beating Kent State will not be an easy feat for the Bobcats, though, who split the regular season series with the Golden Flashes. Ohio won the first meeting 56-50 in The Convo on Jan. 5, but more recently suffered a 35-point loss at Kent on Feb. 23.
Kent State has won seven straight, has two First Team All-MAC players in DeGrate and Lindsay Shearer and is a MAC-East co-champion. It beat Buffalo by 54 in its final regular season game. In tournament play, Kent State is 5-0 against Ohio. Despite all that, the Bobcats are unconcerned.
I don't think we feel like they have our number Bria said.
Last year, the Flashes showed a hint of fallibility when they lost to No. 6 seed Marshall in the quarterfinals, ending their season prematurely. Ohio knows it can knock off this year's No. 2 seed.
If we just keep playing together as a team it's a huge possibility
Ward said.
Win or lose, Ohio is glad to have made it to the quarterfinals again.
I'm just excited we're going to Cleveland
Isbell said. We want to keep playing. If Bria and Ward are right, they will.
We're going to get up there and make some noise
Bria said.
The tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today at Cleveland's Gund Arena.
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Patrick Bourland
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