Great game on Saturday. Very nice to see coach get to empty his bench and let everyone play.

Big game tonight at home against Central Michigan.

Bummer 73-71 loss for Ohio. Bobcats held a 15-point lead late in the first quarter, trailed by 1 at halftime, were down by 7 near the end of the 3rd, got a big three-point play by Johnson to go up 1. Central Michigan went back up one with a couple of free throws and then Johnson put Ohio back on top with a drive to the hoop. Gabrielle Byrd then hit a 3-pointer that was the winner. Johnson missed before the buzzer.

Bobcats held Kelly, nation's second-leading scorer, to 21 on 9-of-22 shooting but Byrd hit five 3-pointers and scored 17. Hooks had 27, Johnson 17 for Ohio.

Bobcats dominated had a 19-6 advantage in offensive rebounds and a 19-6 advantage in turnovers that got them 23 more field goal tries and 7 more free throw tries but shot only 35.4% to Central's 50.8%.

Great game! Really sorry about the outcome, though. Ohio rained down threes early, then hardly hit one the rest of the game, which may have been the most important factor.

Nice 76-65 win at Buffalo today. The Bulls lost a lot from last season's championship team - Cierra Dillard to graduation and Summer Hemphill to knee surgery. But they brought in a terrific freshman class. The best of them, leading scorer Dyaisha Fair, did not play today for violation of team rules. Another freshman, 6'3" Elea Gaba, usually a starter, did not play for reasons which were not announced. But Buffalo had another freshman, Jessika Schiffer, who rained threes on Ohio today, and yet another, 6'3" Loren Christie, who returned from injury to play well. They combined with Ohio's old nemesis, junior Hannah Hall, to keep the Bulls within striking distance after the Bobcats jumped out to a 14-point first quarter lead. The three-pointer fueled Ohio's early run, led by Katie Barker, who hit five in the game.

Buffalo's inexperience finally caught up with them in the fourth quarter, when their offense stalled behind multiple turnovers and missed, very long range, 3-point attempts. Ohio's experience really showed, patiently working to get Erica Johnson good looks which she converted. Amani Burke hit a key layup with under 2 minutes that sealed the game. Edecia (the artist formerly known as Deesh) Beck showed a lot of maturity down the stretch and hit free throws that stopped any thought of a Bulls' comeback. A good response by the team to the Central Michigan loss on Wednesday.

Glad to hear about the Buffalo win. I kind of thought they'd have a lot of trouble with the Beefs after the CMU. Really impressive that they bounced back and won.

Pope had no minutes as far as I know. This was probably planned out. I'd expect both to redshirt unless something happens to require minutes from Mace. Pope would be a Soph. when she returns.

32-29 Ohio at the half. Bad second quarter for the Bobcats, lowlighted by Erica Johnson crashing to the floor and having to be helped off with an apparent back injury. CC is scoring well from inside. but the Broncos are giving her the three-point shot. Unfortunately, she's taking them. 1 for 5 from deep.

Final WMU 73, Ohio 72. Ohio did not look like a team that was picked to dominate the league. They looked like a team with two scorers - Hooks (29) and Johnson (18). Amani Burke has been nearly invisible offensively since conference play started, and Caitlyn Kroll, after a promising beginning to the season, now barely looks at the basket. Unless at least one of them is able to regain some semblance of scoring form, Ohio will be middle of the pack in the MAC.

In my completely unsophisticated analysis I think this teams badly needs a BigWoManz! I know that is easier said than done, but I think a big talented center and this teams is top 25 caliber.

I figured this would be the toughest one until Central Michigan but I expected Ohio to win.

I felt like it might be trouble when Hooks went to the basket with the game tied and was fouled with still 12 seconds left. Wait and the worst-case scenario is overtime. Instead, Western Michigan had plenty of time (and actually gave Ohio a chance at the end, though it's different when you're down).

Ohio (10-6, #73 in Massey ratings) is at Northern Illinois tonight to start a somewhat easier stretch of schedule. Northern Illinois is 5-11 and #191 in the Massey ratings, followed by Bowling Green, which is 7-10 and #202, and then Akron, 8-8 and #172. Can't overlook any of them, though, because there haven't really been blowouts in any MAC games this year. Ohio's 87-67 win over the Huskies the first time is one of the biggest margins in a MAC women's game so far.