For Lauren Kohn and the Bobcats, this one hurt.

Playing for a first-round bye in the upcoming Mid-American Conference tournament, Ohio grabbed its largest lead of the game at five with 3:10 to play. But turnovers and a disappearing act by the offense down the stretch eventually led to an 82-72 loss in overtime.    

“It hurts,” Kohn said. “We were playing for a first-round bye and not getting that position puts us in a tough spot.”
The Bobcats and RedHawks both played like it was a do-or-die game, as the two teams went back-and-forth for the entire second half. There were 11 ties and nine lead changes in the game.

“We just didn’t make good decisions,” coach Sylvia Crawley said. “It hurts to play that hard and that long and not get the win.”

After being down by as much as 11 early in the first half, Ohio grabbed its biggest lead of the game at 69-64 with 3:10 to play. After a timeout, Kohn had the ball taken away by RedHawk guard Amanda Jackson, who scored to cut the Bobcats’ lead to three.

Miami forced a jump ball on the next possession and Jennifer Poff fouled Laura Markwood, who hit both her free throws to cut Ohio’s lead to just one.

The RedHawks were up 72-70 with 26 seconds left when Kohn went to the line for two free throws. She hit them both and Jackson’s shot came up short as time expired.

In overtime it was all Miami. Ohio was unable to score in the overtime period and was outscored 10-0.

“It came back to turning the ball over,” forward Lauren Hmiel said. “We can’t have mental mistakes like that. That’s what blew the game…We’ve got to start buckling down and getting it done.”

Miami turned the ball over just seven times in the game compared to 16 for the Bobcats. Ohio was dominated in the paint. Miami outscored the Bobcats 48-18 in the post.

A big reason for that was the play of Markwood. The senior forward exploded for a career-high 30 points, eight of which came in overtime. She came into the game averaging 9.1 points and her previous high was 24.

“I don’t know if we were really ready for her,” Hmiel said. “I think defensively we needed to step up, but we couldn’t when we needed too.”

Ohio will now play Central Michigan at 7 p.m. Sunday in Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena.