Nov. 13, 2009
Final Stats
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Playing on Friday the 13th certainly proved to be a bad omen for Ohio women's basketball as it dropped its 2009-10 season opener 56-34 on the road to Cleveland State in the Wolstein Center. The Bobcats fell to 0-1 on the season, while CSU started the year 1-0.
Despite getting plenty of good looks, the Green and White were unable to get the ball to go through the net, shooting at an uncharacteristic 29 percent clip for the night. The Vikings, meanwhile, took advantage 25 Bobcat turnovers with 31 points off those miscues. CSU outrebounded Ohio 44-34 on the game.
Jennifer Bushby (Gahanna, Ohio) led the `Cats with eight points, while four Bobcats each scored four. Kamille Buckner (Chicago, Ill.) picked up three blocks on the defensive end, the 25th multi-block game of her career. Bushby also led Ohio on the boards, pulling down nine rebounds to tie for game-high honors. Jenny Poff (St. John's, Mich.) tallied four steals on the evening, while Bushby added two.
CSU came out strong early and took an initial 9-2 advantage. Ohio came rolling back with a big 8-0 run behind a Bushby three and a Thia Gholson (Louisville, Ky.) put back to take a 10-9 lead with 9:30 left in the first half. The Vikings took advantage of some costly Bobcat turnovers and responded with huge 15-0 run to take a 24-10 lead with 3:20 left in the half.
Another Bushby three with 1:14 left stopped the CSU run. A pair of Poff free throws with a second left in the first stanza made the score 24-15 at the half. Neither squad shot the ball particularly well as Ohio shot just 20 percent in the half, while the Vikings finished at a 30 percent clip. It was turnovers that hurt the Green and White as CSU scored 11 points off of Ohio miscues in the stanza.
The Vikings came out with the hot hand and went up by 16 before a Maxine Ohakim (Westerville, Ohio) three-point play cut the deficit the 33-20 with 16:16 left. CSU took advantage of hot shooting and Bobcat turnovers to go ahead 44-24 with 9:49 left.
Ohio continued to battle strong, but the Vikings' hot shooting would prove to be too much. CSU held on the rest of the way to pick up the win.
Shalonda Winton led the Vikings with a game-high 19 points, while Kailey Klein added 12 of her own.
Ohio will be back in action Monday night when it welcomes Navy for its home opener. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in the Convo.
