ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio women?s basketball team ran past Central Michigan in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon in The Convo, posting a 71-43 win, the largest margin of victory all season. In their final game in The Convo, three Bobcat seniors scored in double-digits to lead Ohio?s scoring effort. The No. 7 Bobcats will do battle with No. 2 Kent State Wednesday in Gund Arena, in Cleveland. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.

Freshman Simone Redd (Warrensville Heights) led all scorers with 17 points, while coming up with two steals and pulling down four rebounds. Erin Isbell (Gahanna) recorded her fifth double-double of the season and second in as many games, netting 10 points and grabbing a game-high 11 points.

?I thought we played with intensity the entire game on both ends of the floor,? Ohio Head Coach Lynn Bria said. ?I thought it was our best team effort of the season. Mentally our focus was very good and I thought we shared and moved the ball well.?

Central Michigan took an early 7-3 lead at 16:33, the only advantage the Chippewas would hold, as Ohio took the lead for good with 11:30 remaining in the opening frame. The Bobcats took their largest lead of the half, 27-18, heading into the locker room.

?Defensively I thought we did a good job for 40 minutes,? Bria notes. ?I thought we disrupted about everything they wanted to do.?

Ohio took a commanding 20-point lead, 42-22, with a 15-4 run through the first five minutes of the second stanza with buckets from Redd, Andrea Johnson (Columbus), Kristian Kirkpatrick (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Ciara Iglehart (Mission Viejo, Calif.).

?The first five minutes were huge, I felt that if we could increase the lead and get them out of the game it would be huge for us,? commented Bria on the second half.

Central Michigan cut the deficit to as few as 15, 42-27, at 12:26, but the Bobcats heated back up. Over the next six minutes Ohio put the game out of reach for the Chippewas, gaining a 31-point advantage, 67-36, at the five minute mark. Central Michigan would outscore the Bobcats 7-4 through the remainder of the game, but Ohio would roll to a 71-43 victory.

The 28-point margin of victory for the Bobcats is their largest all season, earning the win on 34.2 percent shooting from the field and 72.7 percent from the free throw line. Isbell and Angel Hornsburger (Columbus) dished out a game-high three assists and came up with four steals.

Seniors Kirkpatrick and Johnson added 12 and 10 points, respectively, in their final outing in the Convocation Center. Iglehart chipped in eight points, Tiffany Byrd (Columbus) added six, Hornsburger contributed four, and Liz Brown (Thermopolis, Wyo.) and Lauren Revesz (Bridgeville, Pa.) each put in two points, to round out the scoring.

The seventh-seeded Ohio will match-up with nemesis No. 2 Kent State in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament in Gund Arena, in Cleveland with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m. Single session tickets are $10 and can be purchased through the Ohio Athletic Ticket Office at 800-575-CATS or through Gund Arena.