Ohio (12-8 Overall, 6-4 Mid-American Conference) welcomed Western Michigan (6-13 Overall, 3-6 MAC) to the Convo on Wednesday for their National Girls and Women in Sports Day game.
“I think it's a big deal,” guard Bailey Tabeling said on what today’s holiday means to her. “When you think of sports, you think of your favorite male player: you never think of your favorite female player, so bringing more attention to the fact that women play sports is a great cause.”
“It’s an amazing day, I love that we are celebrating it now,” Forward Elli Garnett said on what today means to her. “I think it’s grown so much in the past couple of years, and it is continuing to get more and more attention, and I think that is important.”
The Bobcats were on fire to start the game, ending the first-quarter with a 25-8 lead. Garnett led the team with 7 points and Tabeling had 6. The Broncos could not make any of their 3 point shots, making 0 out of 5. They also gave up 10 turnovers, and the Bobcats had five steals.
The Bobcats carried their momentum into the second-quarter and extended their lead to 47-14. Garnett still led the team, now with 12 points. Forward Mary Clare Brusek led the Broncos with 4 points and three rebounds. They still had not made any 3 point shots and were posting a 26% field goal rate.
Ohio stayed strong going into the second-half, ending the third-quarter with a 59-25 lead. The Broncos finally made a 3 point shot, coming from guard Alli Harness, after not making 16 attempts. Garnett still leads the Bobcats with 15 points and five rebounds.
“We have complete trust in each other when somebody shoots, we really rely on each other,” Tabeling said on improvements she has seen in the team since last year. “We have taken a step forward from last year on just being more confident with each other.”
The Bobcats finished off strong, winning the game 76-37. Garnett finished with 15 points, and Tabeling was just behind with 13 points. The Bobcats also had 32 rebounds and five blocks. They led for most of the game, only seeing a score deficit for 19 seconds in the first-quarter. The team had 13 steals and forced 31 turnovers. They had a 46% rate from the field and a 44% 3 point conversion rate.
“Just having faith in ourselves, as well as our teammates, having faith in everyone. We shoot a lot in practice, so we shoot without thinking, and today they just happened to fall and kept falling,” Garnett said on how the Bobcats kept their energy up throughout the whole game.
The Broncos ended with a field goal percentage of 29.2% and a whopping 3 point rate of 13.6%. Guard Kailey Starks led with 12 points and six rebounds, while Brusek had 10 points and six rebounds.
“Our defense was good enough to give us a chance to play and transition, and I think that is when we are at our best,” Ohio head coach Bob Bolden said of the team’s impressive defense.
With this win, the Bobcats moved to a record of 13-8 overall and 7-4 in the MAC. The Broncos are now 6-14 overall and 3-7 in the MAC.
“We came in here, we knew we needed to win. I thought our energy to start the game was terrific, and we did a good job of maintaining that throughout the night,” Bolden said.
Ohio will play Old Dominion next back at home on Saturday.
