Ohio women’s basketball fell to Miami (OH) 80-52 in a lopsided matchup on Friday morning in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament Semifinals.
“They shot it well, they’re a good team,” said Ohio head coach Bob Boldon. “They just use a lot of their body to make it a little harder for our drives.”
Ohio was unable to shoot efficiently throughout the entire game. The poor shooting was perfectly profound in the opening quarter. Ohio shot 2-of-8 from 3-point range while Miami shot 6-for-11 in the first quarter.
It would only get worse heading into halftime, as Ohio shot 1-for-10 in the second quarter from deep and a combined 3-for-18 in the first half. The RedHawks were on the opposite end of the spectrum, making an astounding 55% of their first-half 3-pointers. Miami led the Bobcats 48-24 at halftime, with a stark contrast in shooting percentages.
In terms of specific players, junior guard Bailey Tabeling had a game to forget. Tabeling shot 0 of 6 from downtown after having 33 points and five 3-pointers in the quarterfinals against Central Michigan.
“She didn’t get many easy looks today,” said Boldon. “I thought the defense did a good job of staying in her space.”
Alongside Tabeling, graduate forward Elli Garnett also went 0-for-6 in the semifinals.
The entirety of the Bobcats’ lineup continued to struggle in the second half as they finished the game making just four of their 29 3-point attempts. That low mark of 13.8% is Ohio’s worst 3-point showing as a team this season.
Miami was on fire from 3-point range during the game and made 16 3-pointers, their second most in a single game in program history. Their program record is 17 in a single game, with that happening against Ohio on Jan. 31st during the regular season.
“We need to be more efficient with getting out to shooters and not reacting to stuff, just trying to take away more space,” said Boldon.
Miami will play Toledo at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the MAC Championship game. Tune into Falcon Radio and listen to Lucas Kleimeyer, Trey Kennedy, and Adam Duffin for the broadcast streaming on bgfalconmedia.com.
