Bobcats ride roller coaster to 4-7 record

by Laurie Duffy
Staff Writer    
Laura.Duffy@ohio.edu

The Ohio women's basketball team has ridden the non-conference roller coaster for the second consecutive season, finishing winter break with a record of 4-7.

Despite a bumpy ride through the non-conference schedule, Ohio finished non-conference play with an 85-76 win against Robert Morris (0-10) Saturday in The Convo.

Ohio guard Andrea Johnson had a career best night with 30 points on seven-of-11 shooting from three-point range. She also grabbed seven rebounds.

"She (Johnson) is our go-to player and without question, if she doesn't play well, I don't think we have a chance of winning," Ohio coach Lynn Bria said. "Between her and (Andrea) Gay, (Candace) Bates and Erin (Isbell), those are our four that have to be very active for us to win."

Johnson has stepped up her scoring since Ohio played against Louisiana State, who is ranked No. 2 by the Associated Press, at the Crawfish Classic in Baton Rouge on Dec.18. Despite the 85-57 loss, Johnson's 24-point performance kept Ohio in the game early. She's averaging 15.2 points per game.

Playing a nationally ranked team like LSU was a building block and a challenge, Bria said.

"Considering how I've seen them blow out every team they play, we did pretty good against them," she said.

One thing that Bria said has been a struggle for Ohio, especially in its seven losses, has been getting into the flow of the offense. The Bobcats have averaged 60.9 points per game, while opponents have put up 72 ppg.

"I'd like to be able to say that offensively we're going to do fine, but we have struggled if I look at the total games, but this game (Robert Morris) we did better," Bria said.

Forward Lindsay Wight has risen to Bria's challenge to put more points on the board. She has started seven of the 11 games this season as a freshman and is averaging 6.4 ppg.

"We put in a new offense a few weeks ago, and it's starting to work," Wight said. "We're getting the hang of it and knowing where people are cutting."

In a 77-65 against Winthrop on Dec. 30, the Ohio's ball movement began flow more smooth and it carried over to the Robert Morris game.

"Right now, it's the perfect timing for our offense to become more fluid. It's taken a lot of hard work in practices and games," Gay said. "We finally worked out all the kinks."

Mid-American Conference play begins for Ohio at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Bowling Green (7-4).

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