Final Stats| Photo Gallery

The Basics:
Score: Ohio 63, Buffalo 55
Location: Quicken Loans Arena - Cleveland, Ohio
The Short Story: The Ohio women's basketball team (26-4) ground out a 63-55 win against Buffalo (19-12) on Friday afternoon to advance to its first Mid-American Conference championship game since 2008.

OHIO STARTERS: #2 Mariah Byard, #4 Kiyanna Black, #5 Quiera Lampkins, #10 Lexie Baldwin, #14 Kat Yelle
BUFFALO STARTERS: #1 Stephanie Reid, #4 Joanna Smith, #25 Kristen Sharkey, #34 Alexus Malone, #44 Christa Baccas



How It Happened:
- After trading leads with the Bulls throughout the first half of the opening stanza, Ohio took the lead for the remainder of the half on a three-pointer by Lexie Baldwin at the 8:52 mark that gave Ohio a 17-14 lead.
- The Bobcats would lead by as much as five in the first half.
- Ohio would head into the halftime break with a 27-22 advantage.
- The Bobcats struggled to find a flow offensively in the first half, shooting 11-of-34 (32.4 percent) from the field.
- Ohio had slightly better success behind the arc, shooting 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) from behind the arc.
- Buffalo's offense also had issues scoring, shooting 9-of-30 (30 percent) from the field.
- Baldwin led the Bobcats with six first half points coming from a pair of made triples.
- Mariah Harris and Hannah Boesinger also added five points each in the opening stanza.
- Buffalo was led by Joanna Smith, who scored six points in the first half.
- Kristen Sharkey and Mackenzie Loesing each scored five opening half points for the Bulls.
- The Bobcats strung together a 6-0 run to boost their lead to 45-38, but the Bulls countered quickly with a 5-0 of their own to narrow the score to 45-43 with 9:25 remaining in the game.
- Buffalo cut the Ohio lead to one late in the second half, but a corner three by Mariah Byard at the 2:51 mark made it a two-possession game at 55-51.
- The Bobcats' improved their shooting in the second half, going 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) from the field in the second half.
- Buffalo also saw an improvement in its shooting in the second stanza, shooting 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) from the field.
- Ohio held the Bulls without a field goal for the final 3:58 of the contest.
- The Bobcats shot 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) for the game and 8-of-25 (39.3 percent) from behind the arc.
- Ohio held a 32-12 advantage on points in the paint.
- Byard, Baldwin and Black each scored 13 points to lead the Bobcats.
- Quiera Lampkins led the Bobcats with eight rebounds.
- Buffalo was 20-of-57 (35.1 percent) from the field and 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from three-point range.
- The Bulls were led in scoring by Loesing, who notched 14 points.
- Sharkey and Smith each added 12 points for Buffalo.
- Buffalo outrebounded Ohio by a 41-37 margin.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Black reached double digits in scoring for the 25th time this season the 56th time in her Ohio career.
- The Bobcats tied their record for wins in a season, reaching the 26 victory mark for the first time since the 1985-86 season.
- It's Ohio's first MAC Tournament win since 2012 and its first appearance in the championship game since 2008.
- Ohio swept the season series against the Bulls, winning all three matchups.
- This is the first time since the new MAC Tournament format began that the women's number one seed advanced to the finals.
- With their 178^th made three of the season, the Bobcats matched the men's program's single-season record for three's made in a season.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Bob Boldon:
"It's a night where things didn't go as smoothly offensively as we would have liked, but I think our kids showed a lot of toughness, hung in there and stuck to the plan. They got 11 offensive rebounds, they got 10 offensive rebounds. If we're ever close to them in rebounding, that's tremendous. It's a win for us."

Senior guard Mariah Byard:
On hitting two clutch three-pointers down the stretch:
"That's kind of been my whole career is shooting threes. It was just like any other shot. I really don't let the pressure or anything get to me most of the time. I'm just even-toned the whole way."

Junior guard Kiyanna Black:
On Ohio's success scoring in the paint:
"We knew we had to attack the rim. We wanted to get easy shots, so tonight, that's what we did."

COMING UP
The Bobcats advance to the MAC Tournament final on Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Quicken Loans Arena. Ohio will take on the winner of the Ball State/ Eastern Michigan semifinal matchup.

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