Ohio women's basketball coach Sylvia Crawley entered her press conference Friday night smiling and carrying a bouquet of flowers.
The only thing sweeter than the flowers was the way her team performed in its season opener against Navy.
The Bobcats got 13 steals from their defense and used a strong shooting performance to cruise past the Midshipmen, 72-49.
Crawley, who has emphasized improving defense since practice began in mid-October, was even shocked by the team's performance, which saw seven-of-nine Bobcats getting at least one steal. The Bobcats also dominated the turnover battle with a margin of +12.
That shows we really got after it defensively
Crawley said. Our ball pressure was a little better tonight.
Freshman guard Jennifer Bushby led the team with four steals.
(Bushby) is not really known for her defense but I think we've gotten her to understand that she's going to buy more minutes for herself on the defensive end Crawley said.
Ohio (1-0) also shot very well in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field, including almost 55 percent from 3-point range. Guards Lauren Kohn and Simone Redd each hit two 3-pointers in the half and also scored eight points apiece.
When you're making shots
it obviously builds confidence for your team
Kohn said. With that confidence comes more intensity on defense. Our coaches are like
'Work on defense and defense will turn into offense for you
' and I think that's what really helped us tonight.
Scoring went back and forth in the first few minutes of the game, with Navy getting out to a 9-8 lead. That would be Navy's last lead of the game, as the Bobcats went on a 23-9 run to take a 31-18 lead late in the first half. Ohio took a 38-26 lead going into halftime. Forward Domenica Silva led all scorers at halftime with 13 points.
In the second half, Navy (0-1) got no closer than 11 points of Ohio. Leading 51-35, the Bobcats went on a 9-0 run, with all points coming from guard Rachel Frederick. Ohio coasted from there on its way to the 72-49 win.
Crawley also picked up her first regular-season victory as a head coach, which made the victory even greater for her team.
The fact that it was coach Crawley's first official win as a head coach was something that was exciting to get for her
Frederick said.The team feels it made a strong statement with the victory.
It shows that we're a new team from last year
Kohn said. Coach Crawley and the rest of the staff is doing a great job in trying to turn over this program from last year and I just think it makes a statement that we're headed in the right direction.
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