Thursday's Women's Basketball Results
Ohio 60, Detroit 57
Toledo 64, St. Bonaventure 58
Valparaiso 65, Northern Illinois 50
Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Ohio 60, Detroit 57
The Short Story: After finding themselves with double digit leads heading into halftime their previous two games, the Bobcats (3-0) found themselves in tough, back and forth battle against Detroit (1-2). Ohio would prevail 60-57 improving its record to 3-0, as Quiera Lampkins paced the Bobcats with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
OHIO STARTERS: #2 Mariah Byard, #4 Kiyanna Black, #5 Quiera Lampkins, #10 Lexie Baldwin, #14 Kat Yelle
DETROIT STARTERS: #2 Haleigh Ristovski, #4 Darianne Seward, #11 Rosanna Reynolds, #12 Minisha Frederick-Childress, #32 Ellisha Crosby
How It Happened:
- Despite shooting only 24.2 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from three-point range, Ohio went into the halftime break trailing just 27-25.
- The Bobcats held the Titans to 37 percent shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes while also forcing seven turnovers.
- Detroit’s Ellisha Crosby led all first half scorers with 10 points, while Kiyanna Black and Lexie Baldwin each chipped in six points for the Bobcats.
- After trailing the Titans 31-25 at the 19:10 mark of the second half, Ohio went on a 21-1 run in the next 5:37 that included 15 points from Quiera Lampkins, providing the Bobcats with a 46-32 lead.
- Ohio outrebounded Detroit by a 48-36 margin while both teams hit an identical 33.3 percent of their shots from the field.
- The Bobcats had four players with at least six rebounds, with Lampkins (10), Lexie Baldwin (7), Kiyanna Black (7) and Jasmine Witherspoon (8) each having active nights on the boards.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- With the win, the Bobcats are off to their first 3-0 start since 2006.
- Lampkins hit a career-high two three pointers while also posting at least 16 points for the third time this season.
- The sophomore from Gahanna,Ohio also recorded her second double-double of the season and the fourth of her collegiate career.
- Black reached at least double figures in points for the 33rd time in her Ohio career.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Bob Boldon:
- “Obviously the first two games were fun to watch, but that’s not realistic, that’s not what we’re going to see in January. So it was good that we had to fight through some adversity.”
- “I didn’t think we did a good job executing in the first half and we just kind of got back to our principles offensively (in the second half).”
Sophomore Guard Quiera Lampkins:
- “Last year, this team would have given up. Once we were down in the first half, we would’ve given up and quit. So that’s good that we were able to push and I do think that’s because of experience.”
COMING UP
Ohio hits the road for its next matchup, travelling to Highland Heights, Ky. to take on Northern Kentucky on Tuesday. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. at The Bank of Kentucky Center and can be seen on ESPN3.
Toledo 64, St. Bonaventure 58
TOLEDO, OH – Toledo claimed a hard-fought 64-58 victory against St. Bonaventure in Thursday’s home opener before 3,551 fans in Savage Arena. With the win, UT improves to 1-1 on the season.
Senior Inma Zanoguera led the victorious Rockets with a game-high 15 points, six boards and a career-best six steals. Zanoguera buried a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe and also dished out a team-high three assists to score in double figures for the 50th time in her collegiate career.
Joining Zanoguera in double digits were junior Ana Capotosto with 11 points and junior Brenae Harris had 10. The Midnight Blue & Gold also received nine points and a career-tying best nine caroms from sophomore Janice Monakana and eight points by freshman Michaela Rasmussen to help them bounce back from a season-opening loss last Friday.
Toledo did a bulk of its damage against the Atlantic 10 member SBU at the free throw line, converting an impressive 89.3 percent (25-of-28). Four different players shot at least 4-of-4 from the stripe to propel UT to its third-consecutive triumph against the Bonnies (1-2). The last time the Rockets made at least 25 charity tosses in a game happened against Northern Illinois on Jan. 9, 2014.
UT would need every one of those 25 free throws tonight as field goals were hard to come by. Toledo was limited to 30.9 percent (17-of-55) from the field, including 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from three-point land.
Hannah Little paced St. Bonaventure with 12 points, while Kelcie Rombach had 11.
Both teams struggled to put the ball in the hoop for the opening 14-plus minutes, before the Rockets utilized a 10-2 run to open up a 21-12 advantage at the 1:59 mark. Five different UT players accounted for points in the burst to create a nine-point bulge.
Toledo stayed aggressive in the attack over the final two minutes of the first stanza and benefitted from Capotosto’s second trey of the game to take a 26-17 lead into the intermission.
UT’s Capotosto then began the second half with another triple to extend the margin to 33-19, forcing SBU into a timeout with 17:38 left in regulation.
Toledo’s lead remained at least seven points until St. Bonaventure buried four straight three-point field goals to assume a 50-49 lead at the 5:51 mark. Rombach was lethal from the perimeter and accounted for three of the treys, while Mariah Ruff had the other to give the vistiors their first lead since the 9:00 mark in the first half.
The Rockets responded well, though, with a game changing 12-1 run over the next four-plus minutes to pull out the hard-fought victory. Zanoguera was the catalyst of the late-game burst with six points to turn a one-point deficit into a 10-point cushion, 62-52, with only 21 seconds left.
For a second-straight contest, UT won the battle of the boards, 42-34. Toledo’s defense also forced a staggering 20 turnovers, which it translated into 16 points.
The Rockets will return to action on Sunday, Nov. 23 at Big Ten member Purdue. The opening tip against the nationally ranked Boilermakers is slated for 2:00 p.m. in Mackey Arena.
Valparaiso 65, Northern Illinois 50
DeKALB - With stalwart defense and hot shooting in the second half, the NIU women’s basketball team outscored the Valparaiso women’s basketball team, 35-27, led by sophomore Ally Lehman’s 18-points. The Huskies (1-2) would fall to the Crusaders (2-1) however, 65-50.
Lehman (Nineveh, Ind./Indian Creek) led all scorers with a career-high 22 points as she finished 10-for-23 from the field, including an 8-for-15 (.533) second half. She also pulled down eight rebounds and recorded three steals. Valpo’s Lexi Miller scored 17 points, going 4-for-5 behind the three-point line.
While the Huskie defense was up to the task with their +15 turnover and +7 steal margins, it was Valparaiso who was tougher from the field. Shooting 45-percent in the game, the Crusaders were even better behind the three-point line as they finished the contest 11-for-18 (.611) beyond the arc.
Of the nine Crusaders who appeared in the game, six of them made a shot from behind the arc. Miller made four shots from behind the arc while Dani Franklin made three.
The NIU defense only allowed Valpo to convert 7-of-22 shots in the second stanza, while it converted 15 of its own baskets in front of the team bench. As a unit, the Huskies took advantage of the Crusaders miscues as they outscored Valpo on turnovers, 21-0, redeeming themselves as they scored on 50-percent of their opportunities.
The game marked the NIU debut of point guard Lacia Gorman (Fort Wayne, Ind./Wayne), who has sat out the last two seasons after transferring from Wisconsin in 2012-13 and suffering a season-ending injury last season. Gorman played 10 minutes off the bench with one assist.
“We played really good basketball in the second half, I wish we would’ve played our first half like that. We had a lot of ground to make up after the first half,” said Head Coach Kathi Bennett, “but when we go to Eastern Illinois next week, and we learn from our mistakes and things change, then (our first half) was worth it tonight.”
The Huskies will take on the Panthers next Wednesday, November 26 in Charleston. The pre-thanksgiving tipoff is slated for noon Central.
