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ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio women's basketball team (8-5, 1-1 MAC) fell to Central Michigan (9-4, 2-0 MAC), 73-71, on Wednesday evening at the Convocation Center.

Ohio and CMU had four lead changes in the final 24 seconds of the game before the Chippewas hit the game-winning three-point basket with seven seconds left.

OU was led by junior guard Cece Hooks (Dayton, Ohio) who had a season-high 27 points and nine rebounds, including five on the offensive side. Hooks was 12-of-27 from the field and knocked down three free throws.

Redshirt sophomore Erica Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) was one rebound short of a double-double with nine and had 17 points on 6-of-22 shooting. Johnson hit two threes.

Junior forward Gabby Burris (Baltimore, Ohio) had nine points and 10 rebounds for OU while redshirt sophomore guard Caitlyn Kroll (Bridgeport, Ohio) had eight points off the bench. Senior guard Amani Burke added seven points while redshirt junior guard Katie Barker (Cary, Ill.) had three points. 

Overall, Ohio shot 29-of-82 (35.4 percent) from the field and was 6-of-25 (24.0 percent) from the three-point line. Central Michigan was 30-of-59 (50.8 percent) from the field and 10-of-29 (34.5 percent) from the three-point line. 

"I thought we did a good job Wednesday of taking easy shots (against NIU) and today we didn't," head coach Bob Boldon said. "I thought Central's shot selection was better than ours. That's something you coach up and we have a couple days of practice. We'll try our best to get better this week and we have another tough one on Saturday (at Buffalo)."

Ohio and CMU both pulled in 43 rebounds. The Bobcats had 19 offensive rebounds. Ohio produced 10 steals and forced 19 turnovers while OU only turned the ball over six times. Hooks led the way with four steals while Johnson had three, Burris had two and Barker and sophomore forward Deesh Beck (Grand Rapids, Mich.) each had one.

Both teams got off to a slow start to the first quarter as it was 2-2 with 7:22 left in the quarter. Ohio had a put back layup from Burke and a Barker three to go up 7-2 early. After a CMU bucket, Ohio went on an 8-0 run to take a 15-4 lead with 3:04 left in the frame. Ohio had a 18-9 lead when Johnson and Kroll hit back-to-back threes with less than a minute left. CMU hit a buzzer beating three to make the score 24-12.

CMU stormed back in the second quarter and outscored Ohio, 21-10. The quarter included an 18-0 run from CMU to go up 35-30, but two made free throws and a Hooks layup in the last two minutes of the frame to cut the Chippewa advantage to 35-34.

Overall, Ohio shot 13-of-41 (31.7 percent) from the field and 4-of-14 from the three-point line (28.6 percent) while making four free throws. CMU was 15-of-33 (45.5 percent) from the field and 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from deep. Ohio committed just two fouls in the half. Hooks and Johnson each had 10 in the first half to lead the Bobcats.

Ohio started the third quarter on a 6-0 run that was caped by a Burris three to go up 41-35 with 8:38 left. CMU chipped away at the Ohio lead and ended up getting a 52-45 advantage with 3:44 left. Ohio and the Chippewas traded baskets until the end of the quarter and CMU took a 56-51 lead into the break.

Hooks started the fourth quarter with a layup at 9:26 remaining and the Bobcats were able to get the lead down to 60-59 with a Johnson layup with 6:50 left. Burke tied the game with a free throw, but CMU hit a three to go up 63-60. Ohio and CMU were tied with 2:49 remanining at 66-66 before a CMU layup. With 24 seconds left, Johnson got an and-one layup to fall and gave Ohio a 69-68 lead. CMU hit two free throws with 19 seconds left, but Johnson gave Ohio the lead back at 71-70 with 10 seconds remaining on a layup. Gabrielle Bird hit a three with seven seconds left to put the Chippewas on top and win the game, 73-71.

The Bobcats were 16-of-41 (39.0 percent) in the second half and 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from deep. CMU was 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) overall and 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) from three. Hooks led the way with 17 points in the second half on 8-of-13 shooting.

Ohio will be back in action against Buffalo on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

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