Nov. 22, 2009
Final Stats | Quotes
ATHENS, Ohio - Jennifer Bushby and Kamille Buckner recorded the second double-doubles of their careers, and Da'Keisha Mann came close to picking one up herself, to help lead Ohio women's basketball to its first victory of the 2009-10 season with a 70-58 victory over George Washington Sunday.
Bushby (Gahanna, Ohio) led the `Cats (1-2) with 20 points, including 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc, and a career-high 12 rebounds, while Buckner (Chicago, Ill.) tallied 11 points and 10 boards. Mann (Columbus, Ohio) tied her career-best 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds, finishing just shy of a double-double. Freshman Ashley Fowler (Cincinnati, Ohio) dished out a season- and career-best six assists, while sophomore Danielle Woodmore (Louisville, Ky.) tied her career-high eight points to lead Ohio off the bench.
Buckner and Bushby also helped pace a strong Bobcat defense that pressured GW (2-1) into 15 steals and held the Colonials' leading scorer, Sara Mostafa, scoreless. Both Buckner and Bushby picked up four on the day, while Fowler nabbed three steals. Buckner also picked up two blocks on the day.
For the third-straight game, Ohio's defense proved to be a stingy one for the opposition, holding the Colonials to just 36 percent shooting from the field and 58 points on the day. The `Cats also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding GW 39-36 overall. The win was a big win for Ohio, as it beat a GW squad that qualified for the WNIT last season and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in both 2007 and 2008.
"I'm really proud of our team," Ohio coach Semeka Randall said. "I thought we came in and played for all 40 minutes. We did all the little things in terms of winning this game. We had great hustle plays, knocked free throws down, and we stayed relentless on the boards."
The Green and White came out strong and matched the Colonials' fast-paced style early, ripping off a 12-0 run to take a 12-2 advantage after a Jenny Poff (St. John's, Mich.) trey with 16:32 left. The Colonials would not go away as they fought back and narrowed the Ohio lead to three at 22-19 with 6:48 left in the half. Ohio fought back and took a 35-25 lead into the break.
It was all `Cats at the start of the second frame as Ohio jumped out to its largest lead of the day with a 42-26 advantage with 18:26 left. As would be expected, the Colonials would not go away and cut the lead to 53-46 after a 3-pointer from Tara Booker with 9:14 remaining. GW would only get as close as six, 62-56, the rest of the way as the `Cats broke a strong Colonial trapping defense and made their free throws to come away with the win in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
After struggling from the charity stripe through the first two games, Ohio was strong the stripe Sunday, knocking down 25-of-35 on the afternoon. The `Cats shot 40 percent from the field and pressured the Colonials into 19 turnovers, scoring 21 points off those miscues.
Tiana Myers led GW with a career-high 20 points, while Tara Booker chipped in 10 as well.
It will be a quick turnaround for Ohio, who will entertain Marshall Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Convo. The `Cats beat Marshall 67-53 last year in Huntington, W. Va.
