RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Joe Foss]

All MAC games for the week have now been played. A pretty good week overall, with Eastern Michigan's win over Michigan capping a 6-3 record. For the year, the MAC is 62-50 versus D1 opponents, 3-16 against Power 5 schools.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Shades]

Any Nathalie Fountain experts in here? Any thoughts of her as a prospect? Is she consistently good, versatile?

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Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

[BallState1984]

I would not consider myself an expert, but I have seen Nathalie Fontaine play enough to say with confidence she is consistent. Her greatest strength is getting the majority of her points in the paint.

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[Joe Foss]

The final non-conference games for the MAC were played last night, and everyone starts conference play this Saturday. For the week, the MAC was 8-2 versus D-1 teams, with no games played against Power 5 schools. The totals for the OOC season were 70-52, 3-16 against the P5.

Ohio played just its 3rd home game on Wednesday, beating Middle Tennessee State 72-49. I can't say the Bobcats' offense is yet running in top gear, but the defense looks pretty good for the most part. Ohio used its advantage in quickness to force a lot of turnovers, and in general sped up the Blue Raiders' offense to the point of inefficiency. The MAC season starts off with a bang for Ohio, with home games against Western Michigan and Ball State to open the show.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Final non-conference standings against D-1 teams; RPI; Strength of Schedule (Women's Basketball State version):

Eastern Michigan 7-2; 106; 243
Buffalo 8-3; 82; 160
Ohio 8-3; 85; 120
Ball State 7-3; 83; 136
Western Michigan 6-4; 89; 125
Northern Illinois 6-4; 250; 336
Miami 6-5; 242; 312
Central Michigan 6-5; 115; 96
Akron 5-5; 146; 132
Toledo 5-6; 110; 27
Bowling Green 4-5; 290; 307
Kent State 2-7; 330; 274

Bowling Green only played 9 OOC games. Their last two were cancelled due to weather-caused travel difficulties the Falcons had in trying to get to Texas.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[BallState1984]

[Joe Foss]

[Shades]

[Joe Foss]

Final Ohio 73, Western Michigan 63. I thought last year's championship team was not just good, but lucky. Part of the luck was that their core group missed very few minutes due to injury or illness. That luck held up during this OOC season, but it came to a screeching halt in the Bobcats' first conference game today when starting point guard Yamonie Jenkins couldn't go due to illness. Without her starting, Ohio looked lost on both ends. Offense against the Broncos' 2-3 zone was reduced to popping away from outside without effect, as Ohio missed its first 12 shots. The defense left Meredith Shipman, WMU's best 3-point shooter open for scoring triples, while at the same time giving up lobs to post Jessica Jessing. Western ended the first quarter up 22-12.

That Ohio was even that close was due largely to hometown freshman Dominique Doseck, who came off the bench to hit two treys on her way to 11 first half points. Having somebody - anybody- score seemed to give Ohio traction, as they started forcing WMU turnovers and pulled to within 5 points at the half.

Then in the second half, Quiera Lampkins went off. After shooting 2-7 in the first half, she shot 10-15 in the second, scoring nearly at will on drives to the basket and spectacular finishes. She ended with a career high 33 points, and didn't rest on defense, totaling 6 steals as the Bobcats forced 23 WMU turnovers. Miracle Woods, starting in place of Teagan Reeves (not dressed), did her best to keep the Broncos in it, muscling her way to 16 points. But Ohio was pulling away at the end, outscoring WMU in every quarter but the first. It was good to see the Bobcats show their heart on a day when luck wasn't with them.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[BallState1984]

It took Ball State three quarters to get it in their heads you do not ever lose to Toledo, but once they got the message, they turned a 17 point in the hole performance and into a 75-69 victory.

For the first three quarters, Ball State could do no right and Toledo could do no wrong. Missed easy shots, silly turnovers where the ball was passed directly to an opposing player's hand were the norm.

Frannie Frazier came in and made things happen. Her basket at the 6 something mark in the third gave Ball State the lead for the first time and then it was time to bury the dagger deep.

Fontaine, Monaco and Morrison were absent the entire first half but got it together to chip away at the Rocket lead. Once again, Shelby Merder did all the things necessary to make it easy for the aforementioned three to do what they needed to do. To make it even sweeter, Merder had a career high 15 points.

The Cards go see Joe on Wednesday and then come home to play the team formerly known as the Redskins.

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[Joe Foss]

Final Ohio 73, Ball State 48. Ball State normally uses a man defense, but tonight they surprised me by coming out in a 3-2 zone, and sticking with it for most of the game. Not a bad gamble - zones have bothered Ohio all season, as they are not as good a 3-point shooting team this year as last. The zone takes away a lot of Ohio's quickness advantage by clogging driving lanes to the basket, and in the 5-out offense, there is really no post offense to speak of.

The zone did hold down the Bobcat offense for much of the game. Ohio was hitting some threes, but not at a very high percentage. But the Cardinals never generated much of an offense. They focused on trying to pound the ball inside to exploit their size advantage. When passes reached the posts over Ohio's fronting defense, they led to easy scores. But a lot of the high-low and lob passes were picked off or thrown out of bounds.

Although Ohio led all game, the lead was only 6 midway through the third quarter, and just 11 midway through the fourth. But then the dam burst, as Ohio hit a flurry of threes, converted steals into fast break baskets and took advantage of a Brady Sallee technical to pull away at the end. Quiera Lampkins had another good game for Ohio, as did Yamonie Jenkins, who is not normally known for her three point shooting but who hit a couple of big ones in the third quarter to give Ohio some breathing room.

Early results in the MAC make it seem like there is a lot of parity in the league. After two games, 10 of the 12 teams are 1-1. Ohio is 2-0, and Kent State is 0-2.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[BallState1984]

Brady got a technical? NAWWWWWW!

One of the things which drives me bonkers is Carmen Grande. When she is on her game she rocks. but when she is off her games it is ugly. Like passes to nowhere or into the hands of the opponent ugly. I am cutting her slack beacuse she is a freshman. I suspect this was part of the problem at Athens.

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[Joe Foss]

You're right about Grande. She opened the game with some slick passing and blew by an unwary Kiyanna Black for a layup early on. I thought that Ball State may have picked up a real find in an international player. But then she started throwing passes to no one in particular, and contributed 6 turnovers to Ball State's total of 26. A lot of her minutes ultimately went to Brionna Simond. Lots of potential for Grande, though, and hopefully she'll grow into the role.

I'm not sure what to think about Sallee. Can't argue with the fact that he resurrected the Cardinals' win-loss record almost from the get-go. But his petulance on the sideline is not what I like to see in a coach. Not just begging to be T'd up after the game got out of hand -- he berated one of his players (Merder?) loudly enough for the whole house to hear. Public humiliation as a means of motivation is something that I'd like to see disappear from the college coaching profession.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Final Ohio 72, Bowling Green 57. The Falcons came into this one with a stat line that showed good 3-point shooting guards, an inside force in 6-4" Marquette transfer Lauren Tibbs, and a tendency to turn the ball over. All were on display today. After Ohio began the game with a flurry of points off turnovers, BG took better care of the ball, hit a high percentage of threes, and got inside scoring from Tibbs to keep the game close. The Falcons trailed by only one at the half, and took a one-point lead midway through the third quarter. But then turnovers reared their ugly head, fueling an Ohio run that gave the Bobcats a 56-43 lead at the end of 3. The run continued early in the final quarter, and Ohio held as much as a 19 point lead before coasting to the win.

Bowling Green has the best freshman I've seen in the MAC this year in 5'8" guard Sydney Lambert, who is a shifty ball handler and can hit the three off the bounce. She led the Falcons with 17 points, while Tibbs added 15.

Ohio's Kiyanna Black had something of a bounceback game, leading the team in scoring with 18 and steals with 3. Hannah Boesinger, a "glue" player if there ever was one, had 13 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. At 5'11", she is an undersized backup post player, but somehow manages to get to balls that no one else does and to always be in the right spot defensively. Lexie Baldwin continued her consistent play of late, and is emerging as Ohio's best 3-point shooter other than Black.

Standings:

Ohio 3-0
Ball State 2-1
Buffalo 2-1
CMU 2-1
Toledo 2-1
Eastern Michigan 2-1
Northern Illinois 1-2
Akron 1-2
Bowling Green 1-2
Miami 1-2
Western Michigan 1-2
Kent State 0-3

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[stever]

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/women-s-basketball-central-michigan-97-akron-77-perfect-shooting-by-tinara-moore-leads-chippewas-past-zips-1.653381

[Joe Foss]

Finals from tonight:

Akron (2-2) 71, Bowling Green (1-3) 55
Western Michigan (2-2) 73, Kent State (0-4) 52
Toledo (3-1) 55, Miami (1-3) 50
Ohio (4-0) 71, Eastern Michigan (2-2) 64
Ball State (3-1) 68, Buffalo (2-2) 63
Central Michigan (3-1) 95, Northern Illinois (1-3) 63

Ohio and Eastern have now played four times within the last year. The familiarity meant that each team was able to counter the other's strengths for much of this game. EMU extended their 2-3 zone to make 3-point shots hard for Ohio. Ohio took away a lot of Eastern's inside game with a smothering defense led by Jasmine Weatherspoon's 8 blocks. Ohio doesn't get much scoring inside from their posts, while Eastern has had trouble shooting the three, especially of late. The result was a relatively low scoring game, with a halftime score favoring the Eagles, 31-29.

Both teams traded scoring bursts in the third quarter, with Kiyanna Black carrying the load for Ohio and Phillis Webb doing the same for Eastern. EMU held a 48-47 lead at the end of three quarters, but in the fourth, Ohio seemed to have the fresher legs as well as the edge in poise. The Bobcats went on an 11-0 run, sparked by Quiera Lampkins' drives to the hoop for buckets or foul shots. Yamonie Jenkins nailed a three to stretch the lead, then protected it with perfect free throw shooting when the Eagles had to foul. Eastern's Cha Sweeney often has stepped up to bring her team back from a deficit, but today she was held to just 9 points as Ohio went on to win.

One of Eastern's newcomers, Providence transfer Chanise Baldwin, is a strong 6'3", and contributed much to EMU's 60-38 rebounding edge. One of Ohio's newcomers, 6'2" redshirt freshman Kelly Karlis, also had an impact. She's had a terrible time shooting threes this year, but nailed two of them in the second half to show that she might become a critical contributor down the stretch.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Final Ohio 86, Central Michigan 84 (OT). As the teams exited the floor for halftime, Ohio's Kiyanna Black soccer-kicked a ball so hard that it ricocheted off the side wall and slammed into teammate Tmisht Stinson. That's a tough way to take one for the team, but if that's what it took to get Black fired up for the second half, Stinson might forgive her. After Black scored just five first half points on 2-8 shooting, she scored 34 in the second half and overtime on 10 of 16 shooting, including 4 of 7 from three, and 10 of 10 from the line. She played with a focus I have not seen from her this year, and one worthy of an MVP candidate.

That she would get the chance to be the hero seemed unlikely at first. After Black started the game sleepwalking with the rest of the starters, Ohio was nearly run out of the Convo. The Chips were getting every rebound and every shot they wanted, and jumped out to a 16-6 lead with less than five minutes gone in the first half. Ohio coach Bob Boldon was so disgusted with the performance that he pulled all five starters and sent in their backups. That group brought an energy that the starters lacked, and stabilized the situation. Key among them was Stinson, who is a seldom used reserve but who today showed herself to be an athlete who can score. The backups stopped the bleeding, but CMU was still up at the half by 12.

Even with Black's second half performance, it didn't look like the Bobcats were going to be able to overcome the deficit. CMU seemed to have an answer every time Ohio got close, led by their 6'3" center Tinara Moore, who finished with 22 points on 9-11 shooting. Ohio was still down 10 midway through the fourth quarter, and by 4 with less than a minute to go. But the Bobcats forced a shot clock violation and a turnover on an in-bounds play, and managed to tie it at the end of regulation. They clung to a small lead in overtime, and Presley Hudson's triple try bounced off the iron at the buzzer. Great game to watch, and the Chips gave notice that their young talent will be challenging for the title this year.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Standings after 5 games:

Ohio 5-0
Ball State 4-1
Toledo 4-1
Akron 3-2
Central Michigan 3-2
Eastern Michigan 3-2
Western Michigan 3-2
Buffalo 2-3
Bowling Green 1-4
Miami 1-4
Northern Illinois 1-4
Kent State 0-5

I think it can be said that EMU's Cha Sweeney is in a shooting slump. After scoring at least 20 in four straight games, she put up only 9 against Ohio last Wednesday, then shot 0-11 for zero points against Kent State on Saturday. Which means she'll probably go off for 30 in her next game.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Finals from tonight:

Ohio (6-0) 93, Kent State (0-6) 54
Ball State (5-1) 76, Eastern Michigan (3-3) 54
Akron (4-2) 81, Toledo (4-2) 71
Central Michigan (4-2) 72, Miami (1-5) 58
Western Michigan (4-2) 92, Buffalo (2-4) 78
Bowling Green (2-4) 58, Northern Illinois (1-5) 43

Ohio set a MAC record for made threes in a conference game with 17. No trouble tonight with the Kent State zone, which gave up plenty of open looks. Three players set personal scoring highs - Lexie Baldwin with 19 (5 of 11 from three), Dominique Doseck with 15 (3 of 8 from three), and Jasmine Weatherspoon with 14 (but no threes). Kent State committed 25 turnovers, which turned into a whopping 48 Ohio points. The Flashes are not showing any progress in Danielle O'Banion's fourth year as head coach.

I'll be glad when all MAC teams have converted to ESPN3 standards. About half of them have under the league's contract with ESPN, and the quality of their broadcasts is usually excellent. Kent State has not yet made the conversion, and their video is constantly buffering. Ohio is another school that has yet to make the changeover, which I believe must be done in the next couple of years.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[BallState1984]

Welll..... Cha Sweeney is still in her slump.
went one for 13 from the floor and grabbed four boards.

Ball State handed The Eastern Michigan Hurons, I mean Eagles their collective ass 76-64. Ball State led from start to finish paced by 45.9% shooting from the floor and 100% (11 for 11 ) at the line.

Nathalie Fontaine led all scorers with 27 and slid into second place on the all time scoring list. She is within striking distance of dethroning Tamara Bowie. Fontaine needs 221 to match Bowie's output. Jill Morrison had a career night in threes, hitting seven and that is two shy of the record set by Audrey McDonald-Spencer. Frannie Frazier had a crappy shooting night, but her nine boards and defense more than made up for it. Janay Morton carried the load for Eastern, scoring 23.

Of course I had to troll on my Twitter feed, reminding people that this was a great performance from the team picked to finish dead last in the West. I was nice, I just reminded people SOMEONE made that vote.

Best part of the game was the 23 assists. Morrison and Fontaine got the glory, but everyone made sure the game plan worked.

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[colt13]

Got a question for the MAC followers. Watched the NIU-Bowling Green game the other night, and NIU has two players from Illinois, but 7 from Wisconsin. What is the connection?

[summertime blues]

[Joe Foss]

[summertime blues]

[Joe Foss]

Finals from today:

Ohio (7-0) 72, NIU (1-6) 47
Ball State (6-1) 77, WMU (4-3) 51
CMU (5-2) 81, Akron (4-3) 60
Bowling Green (3-4) 71, Kent State (0-7) 49
Miami (2-5) 69, Buffalo (2-5) 58
Eastern Michigan (4-3) 59, Toledo (4-3) 41

Ohio looked flat during the early stages of its road game at Northern Illinois: missing shots and committing turnovers. But the Huskies are the MAC team most plagued by injuries this year, with four players out, three for the season. Add to the injuries the loss to graduation of Amanda Corral, and NIU is left with not much on the offensive end. They can't shoot worth a damn, and when they turn the ball over 20-plus times, as they did today, even a flat Ohio team can roll over them. Four Bobcats scored in double figures, and Lexie Baldwin continued her strong play of late with a double-double of 16 and 12. A good rebounding effort by Ohio throughout, which has been a weakness of this team at times this season.

And speaking of injuries, Ohio has been nicked up as well. Hannah Boesinger did not make the trip after playing only 3 minutes against Kent State. Kelly Karlis was back today after missing the KSU game, but was badly off on her shot. And Tmisht Stinson, who had put together a couple of strong performances lately, did not play at all in today's blowout.

The Bobcats could need the return of the missing players in next week's games. Home game against Akron on Wednesday, then there is the matter of the rematch with Ball State, in Muncie, on Saturday.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan