Final Stats |  Quotes

The Basics:
Score: Ohio 58, Kent State 44
Location: The Convocation Center â€" Athens, Ohio
The Short Story: The Ohio women's basketball team (18-3, 9-1 MAC) faced early resistance from a persistent Kent State (3-18, 1-9 MAC) squad but caught fire in the second half en route to its eighth-straight victory, winning 58-44 Saturday night at the Convocation Center.

OHIO STARTERS: #2 Mariah Byard, #4 Kiyanna Black, #5 Quiera Lampkins, #10 Lexie Baldwin, #14 Kat Yelle
KENT STATE STARTERS: #0 CiCi Shannon, #1 Naddiyah Cross, #3 Larissa Lurken, #21 Melanee Stubbs, #35 Jordan Korinek



How It Happened:
- The Bobcats opened the game slowly, shooting 3-of-11 from the field and falling behind 15-8. But a 12-2 run that included five points from Kiyanna Black pushed the Bobcats ahead 20-17 at the 6:21 mark of the first half.
- Kent State carried a 25-23 lead into half, holding the Bobcats to 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) shooting from the field.
- Black led the Bobcats with eight points at the half while Quiera Lampkins scored five points and hauled in five rebounds.
- Melanee Stubbs and CiCi Shannon each scored nine points for the Flashes in the opening half. Shannon also led Kent State with seven rebounds.
- Ohio won the turnover battle 12-6 in the opening 20 minutes.
- After going back and forth for much of the second half, Ohio found breathing room on a 20-2 run and took a 55-37 lead on the back of four consecutive triples from Black.
- Black was Ohio’s leading scorer with 20 points, with 12 coming in the second half.
- Kent State was led by Stubbs who scored 12 points. Shannon recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
- Mariah Byard added eight points for the Bobcats.
- Quiera Lampkins led Ohio with seven rebounds to go along with 11 points.
- After allowing the Flashes to shoot 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) in the first half, Ohio limited Kent State to 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) in the second half and 18-of-40 (45 percent) for the game.
- Ohio forced the Flashes into 25 turnovers.
- The Bobcats shot 18-of-48 (37.5 percent) in the contest.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Ohio reached the 18 win mark for the first time since 2007-08.
- The win improved the Bobcats’ record to 9-1 in the MAC and they maintain a two game lead in the East Division.
- Black reached a double-digit point total for the 19th time this season and the 47th time in her Ohio career.
- The Bobcats won eight straight games for the first time since 2007-08.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Bob Boldon:
“KB (Kiyanna Black) is really good. Sometimes really good players step up and win games for you and that’s exactly what happened this evening.”

Junior guard Mariah Harris:
“I feel like I just need to be more confident in myself and it’ll help the team.”

Junior guard Kiyanna Black:
“I just feel like I’m very confident in myself, so sometimes I take risky shots. Sometimes they go in, sometimes it comes to bite me. But I just stepped up and made the shots.”



COMING UP
The Bobcats hit the road for their next matchup, traveling to Bowling Green for a game against the Falcons on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.

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