Oct. 31, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
ATHENS, Ohio - First-year head coach Semeka Randall and the Ohio women's basketball team opened the 2008-09 season with a 68-61 overtime victory over the Ohio Girl's Basketball Magazine Legends in exhibition action Friday night. The Bobcats overcame an 11-point halftime deficit and hit clutch free throws down the stretch to pull out the win.
Jenny Poff (St. John's, Mich.) led all players with a game-high 30 points, including 21 in the second half and overtime, on 7-13 shooting and an impressive 14-16 from the foul line. Lauren Hmiel (York, Pa.) and Carolyn Barnett (North Chicago, Ill.) also hit double figures with 11 points each. Barnett also contributed eight rebounds and three assists, while sophomore forward Kamille Buckner (Chicago, Ill.) finished with five points, seven rebounds, two steals and an assist. Center Chandra Myers (Sugarcreek, Ohio) led all players with 13 rebounds, four of them offensive, and chipped in five points.
The first half started out slowly, as Ohio shot 1-7 from the field through the first 10 minutes of play. The Legends led 16-9 with just under eight minutes left in the half, but the Bobcats, led by Poff's two quick layups, mounted a run to close the gap on the Legends. After a timeout, OGBM's Amanda Lassiter hit back-to-back 3-pointers to widen the Legends' lead to 30-16.
At halftime, the score stood 30-19 in favor of OGBM. Poff led the Bobcats with nine first-half points, along with two rebounds and a steal. She shot .500 from the floor and went 3-4 from the foul line, while Myers totaled four points and grabbed five boards in the opening half to help Ohio claimed the rebounding edge, 19-18 at the break.
The second half continued the back-and-forth action of late in the first half, as the Legends maintained an 11-point advantage five minutes into play. Barnett downed consecutive jumpers to rally the `Cats, narrowing the deficit to six. Poff then hit a 3-pointer to pull Ohio within three. Another trey from Poff a short time later put the Bobcats ahead, 42-41, with seven minutes remaining.
OGBM regained the lead with a jumper with five minutes to play, and then went up by four on a three from Kim Wilburn with four minutes to go. Two free throws from Hmiel pulled Ohio to within two, but a jumper on the baseline by the Legends' Larecha Jones made the score 48-44, OGBM.
Beginning the Bobcat rally, Hmiel hit a jumper underneath the basket to answer, and a steal and layup by Poff tied the game at 48 apiece. A basket and foul in the lane by Jones of OGBM gave the Legends the lead again. Seconds later, Poff hit two free throws to put the Bobcats down by just one with two minutes to play.
Wilburn made a layup to put OGBM up by three after a steal, but Ohio's Myers drew a hard foul in the paint with under a minute left to give her two free throws. She made one of two to make the score 53-51 for OGBM. The Bobcats stood their ground on defense, forcing a shot clock violation to get the ball back with 24.7 seconds remaining. A pass from Poff to Buckner under the basket tied the game at 53 with less than ten seconds on the clock. A last-second shot by OGBM's Lassiter missed, sending the game into overtime.
In the extra period, Hmiel hit a free throw and Barnett sank a layup to give the Bobcats the early advantage. A breakaway layup by Wilburn then pulled the Legends to within one, but Hmiel responded with a layup of her own on the next possession.
Seconds later, Lassiter stole it from Poff in the backcourt, then hit the layup to make the score 60-59 in favor of Ohio. OGBM began fouling, sending Poff to the line, where she drained two free throws to put Ohio back up by three. A pair of Bobcat free throws put them up by seven with under 20 seconds to play. OGBM tried to rally, as Wilburn hit a layup with 12.9 seconds left, but Ohio responded by calmly hitting the final free throws of the game to take the victory.
Courtney Coleman led the Legends with a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds, followed by Wilburn with 15 points and five boards.
The Bobcats will take the court again on Thursday, Nov. 6, against Ohio Valley in the final exhibition game of the season. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. in The Convo.
