Ohio in seeding battle with Bulls

by Blake Whitney
Staff Writer

After winning three of its last four games, the Ohio women’s basketball team (11-12 overall, 6-6 Mid-American Conference) returns home to face the Buffalo Bulls (9-15, 4-9) in the first of two home games with huge MAC Tournament implications.

"Buffalo is a good team,” Ohio coach Lynn Bria said. “They're right on our tail in the standings. Buffalo is going to be ready.”

At 6-6 in MAC play, Ohio is alone in eighth place in the league standings, two games ahead of Bowling Green — which Ohio plays Tuesday — and two and a half games ahead of Buffalo. Saturday’s game with the Bulls will give Ohio a chance to move closer to a guaranteed position in the top eight.

The top eight teams in the league play first round MAC Tournament games at home, while the No. 9 through No. 13 teams are forced to go on the road.

Ohio is coming off of a 69-64 come-from-behind win at Akron on Wednesday night.

Guard Cathy Szall’s career-high 34 points helped the Bobcats overcome a 17-point second half deficit.

A loss to Akron, who is 1-23 on the season, could have devastated the Bobcats’ hopes of playing host in a first round game. For that reason, Bria said she hoped her team learned not to overlook any of its opponents.

“We’re not at the maturity level where we can come out and execute no matter what,” she said.

Buffalo likely will look to slow the game down, relying on its defense to hinder the Bobcats’ potent offensive attack. The Bulls hold opponents to 59.4 points per game ­ putting them on the top of the MAC and among the leaders in the nation.

“We're going to have to move the ball around to get some good shots,” Bria said. “They're ranked nationally defensively.”

While Buffalo’s defense may be a strong point, its offense was a weakness in a 55-35 home loss to Marshall on Wednesday. The Bulls had a 26.2 shooting percentage, and did not have a single double-digit scorer for the first time all season.

“I'm very disappointed with the way we're playing right now,” Bulls coach Cheryl

Dozier said. “We have to get things together in the next few games before the MAC Tournament."

The game’s key match-up could be between Buffalo forward Jessica Kochendorfer and Ohio forward Lori Moorman, both 6-1. Kochendorfer leads Buffalo with 14.8 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game, while Moorman is the MAC’s fourth leading scorer, averaging 15.9 points per game.

Tip-off between Ohio and Buffalo is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at The Convo.