March 11, 2009

Final Stats

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Ohio women’s basketball team got a career day from senior forward Lauren Hmiel (York, Pa.) as the Bobcats avenged a regular season loss to Western Michigan by downing the Broncos 68-57 Wednesday in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena.

Ohio improved to 13-17 overall and advanced to a Quarterfinal matchup with Toledo (17-12) at 9 a.m. Friday morning. Ohio lost to the Rockets 60-51 in Toledo on Feb. 8. WMU dropped to 7-23 overall.

Hmiel registered her third double-double when she tied a career-high 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. She also notched a career-high nine field goals and tied a career-high with two 3-pointers. Junior guard Jennifer Bushby (Gahanna, Ohio) also posted 19 points and six assists. Fellow backcourt mate Jenny Poff (St. Johns, Mich.) tied Cathy Szall for third in Ohio single-season 3-pointers with 68 on the season, a mark that was set during the 2000-01 season. She also tied a season high with seven assists.

“I’m very proud of our girls,” Ohio coach Semeka Randall said. “We really made some good basketball plays out there. It really was a total team effort. We just locked into the challenge and got it done.”

Western Michigan’s Ebony Cleary powered the Broncos with a career-high 21 points (8-11 FG) and nine caroms. Sara Vest had 12 points on 6-6 from the free throw line. Tiera DeLaHoussaye finished with eight points, six rebounds and six assists.

After surrendering an early layup, Ohio ripped off an 11-2 run over the game’s next five minutes and 30 seconds, capped off when Bushby put the Bobcats up 11-4 on a 3-pointer at the 14:10 mark. The lead then grew to nine (17-8) when Hmiel connected on a jumper at the 11:14 mark. WMU fired right back with a 10-2 run of its own over the next five minutes and 36 seconds after Miame Giden made a jumper with 5:41 remaining in the first stanza to slice the Bobcat lead to one (19-18). However, Ohio muscled up an 11-2 run to close the first half on a pair of buckets by sophomore forward Kamille Buckner (Chicago, Ill.), two 3-pointers by Bushby and a free throw by Poff.

Bushby led all scorers in the first half with 13 points and three assists on 5-8 shooting, which included a 3-4 performance from long range. Hmiel also posted six points and six rebounds. Western was led by six points and five rebounds from DeLaHoussaye.

Ohio held a 23-22 rebounding advantage in the first half and held the Broncos to 24.2 percent (8-33) shooting, including 0-9 from 3-point range.

Hmiel came out hot in the second half with five points in the first 91 seconds of play as the Bobcat lead grew to 37-23 at the 18:29 mark. Ohio took its biggest lead of the contest at 47-30 on a Hmiel free throw with 14:08 left to play. However, WMU fought back into the game with a 27-12 run over the next nine minutes and 39 seconds when Cleary scored her fourth-straight point on a layup at the 4:29 mark to cut the Bobcat lead to two (59-57). From there, Ohio clinched the game with a 9-0 run on a layup by sophomore forward Thia Gholson (Louisville, Ky.), a 3-pointer by Hmiel and four free throws from Bushby.

Ohio held the Broncos to 5.9 percent (1-17) from 3-point range, the lowest percentage an opponent has registered against the Bobcats this season. The figure is also a season-low for WMU. However, WMU did connect on a season-best 88.9 percent (16-18) from the charity stripe.