Bobcats fall short in opener

by Lonnie McMillan
Staff Writer

Ohio guard Andrea Johnson's shot from mid-court missed at the buzzer, and the Premier All-Stars defeated the Bobcats 77-75 in an exhibition game Friday night in The Convo.

Despite the loss, Ohio guard Stacey Musacchia said the Bobcats played well together for its first game.

"We've been working a lot on transition defense and we did very well on that," she said. "Once we start running our offense quicker, we'll be a very good team."

Johnson scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Ohio, but former Ohio State guard Jamie Lewis torched Ohio with 26 points and six assists.

After the first five minutes went back-and-forth, the Bobcats scored nine straight points to take a 23-15 advantage with 11:54 remaining in the half. The All-Stars responded with an 11-2 run to pull them back into the game, and Ohio entered halftime ahead 43-38.

The second half returned to basket-for-basket scoring, and neither team led by more than four points.

Ohio held a 73-69 advantage with 3:59 remaining in the game. However, Premier scored the next six points for a two-point advantage with 1:18 left.

After guard Candace Bates missed a jumper with six seconds left for the tie, Ohio got one last chance following a missed free throw. However, Johnson’s long three came up short.

Guard Lindsay Wight said one positive the team can take away is it played solid defense. 

"Our transition defense (was good)," she said. "We rarely gave up any transition lay-ups. We made them work for any points they got, and that's a big step for us."

The Bobcats shot 47.6 percent from the floor, but forward Megan Oriold said the offense is not running at its full potential yet.

"Our offense is something we need to work on," she said. "We put in a new offense this year. It's a lot different than last year. It's a four out, one in offense. Last year we played a lot of motion. We need to work on it."

Still, forward Erin Isbell said the offense showed a lot of promise.

"We didn't do a good job of harboring our offense and still we scored 75 points," she said. "For us that was a really good indicator. Some people didn't shoot as well or as much as they usually do. When we do get things flowing, we will be fine. We will score 100 points."

Ohio plays its final exhibition game Wednesday against OGBM at 7 p.m. in The Convo.