Ohio Women's Basketball 2023-24 Season Preview
11/10/2023 10:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio women's basketball team didn't get the result it wanted last season , but its refreshed and ready to go for 2023-24.
There are familiar names on Ohio's nonconference schedule, most of which it faced last season. Ohio is set to host return games with IUPUI, Indiana State and Longwood in The Convo. It will also get to face in-state rival Dayton at home, whom it beat by one point in 2022-23.
Ohio has two Power 5 opponents on its schedule as well. It will face Ohio State in Columbus on Dec. 5 and then Syracuse on Dec 9 at home. Other nonconference opponents include Butler, who Ohio will play in Hinkle Fieldhouse, Morehead State, Bellarmine and Appalachian State, who Ohio will face as part of the MAC- Sun Belt Conference Challenge.
From there, the Bobcats will start their MAC Schedule. They were picked to finish ninth with 40 votes. Toledo was picked to finish first with 11 first place votes and two votes to win the MAC Tournament.
"Last year, we played a real close game with them at Toledo, so I'm really looking forward to hopefully getting back at them," junior guard Kate Dennis (Rockford, Ill.) said. "(I'm looking forward to) giving everybody a run for their money this season. MAC games are incredibly competitive."
Ohio starts MAC play against Akron on Jan. 3 in The Convo. It will not face Akron again until early March while on the road. Ohio has its first road game on Jan. 6 at Kent State. In 2022-23, Ohio picked up wins against Miami, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois and Central Michigan. Ohio tied Central Michigan for last in the MAC and marked the first time it hadn't been in the MAC Tournament in nine years.
The Bobcats aren't sure where their MAC schedule is going to take them yet. They're more focused on the nonconference portion of the season.
"I don't know. I think that that seems so far away right now. What January is going to look like and what we're going to be, who we're going to be in January and what the conference is gonna look like in January. Some teams are going to be better than they thought in November and December, and some teams are going to be worse. Some are going to be able to fix it by January and some teams aren't," Boldon said. "Sadly, injuries have played a major role in our conference the last couple of years, but sometimes that affects teams. Even though it's only two months, it feels like an eternity we have ahead of us in November and December before we even get to the conference."
Ohio returns with one of its top performers from last season, sophomore Jaya McClure (Louisville, Ky.). McClure ranked third on the team in points (209), field goals made (70), steals (29) as well as second in assists (71). As a freshman, she played in 26 and started in five games, amassing a total of 706 minutes. McClure's performance on the court earned her a spot on the All-MAC Freshman Team. The Louisville, Ky. native was among the top three offensive contributors for Ohio during the 2022-23 season.
Even with the return of McClure and several other veteran Bobcats, Ohio is a different team this season. The team has several new student-athletes who have never played in a Bobcat uniform and a few who are returning from injury. There are nine student-athletes on the roster who did not hit the court for the Bobcats last season.
Among those nine are freshman guard Laylay Fantroy (Palestine, Texas), junior guard Kennedi Watkins (Ballwin, Mo.), freshman guard Monica Williams (Indianapolis, Ind.), freshman guard Bailey Tabeling (Seymour, Ind.), freshman guard Asiah Baxter (Indianapolis, Ind.), senior guard Bengisu Alper (Istanbul, Turkey) and freshman forward Emma Barnett (Mount Washington, Ky.). Watkins previously played at SEMO and Alper at Northwestern State and Colorado State.
Making their returns for the 2023-24 season are senior guard Peyton Guice (Westerville, Ohio) and redshirt junior guard Madi Mace (Parkersburg, Wv.). Both sat out last season due to injuries.
Dennis noted that the team became close during the preseason and that has made a difference thus far. She and the freshman have bonded over being out-of-state students, Dennis being from Illinois.
"I feel like they're all my little sisters in a sense and I'm doing my best to guide them to help them as much as I can because I know it's such a common thing when you ask older girls like how they feel. I truly want to help them and I want to make it a good experience for them," Dennis said. "Especially with there being five freshmen. We're depending on them for quite a bit and it might seem overwhelming."
A strong unit is going to be important for the Bobcats when they get to the later part of the season.
"When it becomes individual basketball, things get hard. People start to go their separate ways, and last year, especially with the amount of injuries that we had, we had to stay together," Dennis said. "Even now we have a larger group of girls, younger girls, so playing for something bigger than you, there's a lot of nerves. There are a lot of people who might not know what they're doing quite yet, but ultimately playing for each other playing, for the coaches and playing for Ohio. That's the most important thing."
The most exciting part of the new season for Boldon is seeing the new group in action. He's ready to see how the team gels and how far it can go in conference play and beyond.
"I'm excited to see how they grow. I've been very excited about the growth from day one. There's still a lot of days left to go, so I'm excited to see how that goes. From the App State game to game to the Dayton game to the first conference game to the conference tournament if we're fortunate to be there," Boldon said.
Ohio will get to test its new team on Nov. 11 against Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina.
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