Bobcats looking to push past Falcons

by Jenny Hugenberg
Staff Writer

The Ohio women's basketball team looks to get its first Mid-American Conference win tonight against the Bowling Green Falcons.

The Bobcats (3-9 overall, 0-1 in the MAC) have had trouble with Bowling Green (5-7, 1-0) in the past.

"We've always played well against them in past years, but we've never been able to win," guard Heather Laughlin said. "They have two good perimeter shooters that might give us trouble this time."

Coach Lynn Bria said the Bobcats know the Falcons' strengths going into the game.

"Bowling Green doesn't play a lot of their players, but the ones they do are very good," Bria said. "They play very good man-to-man defense and will try to stop our shots on the inside. They will be one of the toughest opponents we come up against in the MAC."

Two of Bowling Green's top players, guards Francine Miller and Angie Farmer, were injured earlier in the season, but both are playing again.

"Bowling Green has two of their top players back now," Bria said. "They shoot very well and finish their shots, so we need to work on our defense."

Forward Lori Moorman said the Bobcats' defense is one of their main weaknesses going into the game against the Falcons.

"We thought we were doing well with defense in all our games over break, but the game against Kent showed us that our defense isn't as strong as we thought," Moorman said. "We gave them almost 100 points. We need to keep Bowling Green to under 60, so we need to step up our defense and control the rebounds."

The Falcons have averaged about 68 points per game this season, while the Bobcats have averaged about 72.

The Kent game helped Ohio know what it had to do to prepare for Bowling Green. The Bobcats lost to Kent 98-77 on Jan. 3.

"We need to work on our transitions," Bria said. "All five players need to get back on defense after scoring. We gave up four or five shots to Kent because of our transitions, and we just can't do that against Bowling Green."

Ohio has gotten off to a slow start this season with its 3-9 record, but Bria said the team is still working toward winning.

"We've had to start over almost and we are still making adjustments," she said. "We need to keep working on playing a half-court game and I think it will get better and better as the season goes on. Everything we have worked hard on we have improved at."

The Bobcats tip-off against the Falcons at 7 p.m. tonight at The Convo.