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Box Score (PDF)

CLEVELAND – The No. 3 Ohio women's basketball team (14-7) rallied from a seven-point deficit to take down No. 6 Ball State (14-11), 61-59, on Wednesday evening at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals. Ohio advanced to the semifinals of the tournament and will face No. 2 Central Michigan in the second game of the day on Friday.  

"I think our kids showed a lot of toughness tonight," head coach Bob Boldon said. "We did not shoot the ball as well as we had hoped, and it takes a lot of mental fortitude to stick with it and trust what you work on and trust what you do. To come out after a bad shooting half and have the mental wherewithal to be better is impressive. It truly takes a lot more mental toughness then it may seem at the surface."

Senior guard Cece Hooks (Dayton, Ohio) had her third-straight game with a double-double after posting 21 points and 11 rebounds. Hooks hit three three-pointers and added two assists and four steals.

Redshirt junior Erica Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) went 7-of-10 in the second half after going 0-for-6 in the first half and finished with 19 points. Johnson was 5-of-11 from deep and added three steals and three rebounds.

"My teammates and coaches had confidence in me and I never lost confidence in myself," Johnson said. "Seeing that first one go was really good. I knew that I was where I needed to be mentally. Getting in the flow helped."

Senior forward Gabby Burris (Baltimore, Ohio) posted 15 points and three rebounds.

As a team, Ohio shot 9-of-38 (23.7 percent) from the field in the first half and 13-of-32 (40.6 percent) from the field. Overall, Ohio was 22-of-70 (31.4 percent) and 10-of-31 (32.3 percent) from the three-point line. Ball State was 21-of-56 (37.5 percent) from the field and 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) from deep.

"I thought we were running a pretty good offense and Ball State did a pretty good job of guarding us and taking away our first looks," Boldon added. "I thought our kids did a pretty good job of getting to our next looks, but some of them didn't go in."

The Bobcats were outrebounded by Ball State, 45-37. Eleven of Ohio's rebounds were on the offensive end. Hooks led the team with 11, while redshirt freshman guard Madi Mace (Parkersburg, W. Va.) had seven rebounds and redshirt junior guard Caitlyn Kroll (Bridgeport, Ohio) had five rebounds.  

Ohio forced 21 Ball State turnovers and had 12 steals. Hooks led Ohio with four swipes while Johnson had three. 

The Bobcats will continue the MAC Tournament against No. 2 Central Michigan on Friday in the semifinals. The game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will begin 30 minutes after the first game of the day.

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