UB women’s basketball (11-8, 5-4 MAC) won 81-63 against the Ohio Bobcats (7-12, 4-5 MAC) at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, giving the Bulls their fifth Mid-American conference (MAC) win this season.
The win pushed UB into fourth place in the MAC standings, giving the Bulls a potential home playoff game in the conference tournament. The Bulls are now tied with Bowling Green (11-8, 5-4 MAC) record-wise, but own the tiebreaker over the Falcons because of their Jan. 24 win, 82-72.
On a night when the Bulls struggled to shoot the ball, hitting just nine of 39 (23%) three-point attempts throughout the game, they offset their poor perimeter shooting with 54 points in the paint. The Bulls also forced 18 turnovers — five UB players had at least one steal — and scored 26 points thanks to Ohio’s mistakes.
UB had a rough start to the game, giving up 7 straight points in the first two minutes, but found rhythm late in the opening frame as senior guard Chellia Watson (coming off hot from her record-breaking game) hit a free throw to cut the deficit to 1 point. UB then took the lead to open the second quarter, making it 16-15 on a layup by sophomore guard Hattie Ogden. Watson scored inside to give the Bulls their biggest lead at 35-28 as the Bulls began to pull away, going into halftime with a 4-point lead.
The second half was all UB. The Bulls outscored Ohio 32-11 in the third quarter with a 24-5 run to close the frame, a season high for points in a quarter for the Bulls. UB opened the fourth with a 25-point lead, and the closest the Bobcats got was within 17 as the Bulls cruised to the victory.
Watson once again put on an offensive clinic, dropping a game-high 27 points to push her season average to 25.1 points per game,which ranks third in the NCAA. Four other Bulls scored in double figures, including 15 points from Ogden, who also had six rebounds and two blocks. Junior guard Sitota Gines added 11 points and seven rebounds while contributing three steals, all of which were career-highs.
The Bulls will next face Eastern Michigan (5-14, 2-7 MAC) at Alumni Arena on Saturday. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
Henry Daley is an assistant sports editor and can be reached at henry.daley@ubspectrum.com
Henry Daley is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. His work has featured on other platforms such as Medium and Last Word on Sports. Outside of the newspaper, he enjoys running and watching sports (when he’s not writing about them).
