The Ohio University women’s basketball team pulled away from a stubborn Otterbein squad in the second half Monday, beating the Cardinals 68-44 at the Convocation Center in Athens during the Bobcats’ Education Day game, Otterbein University Athletics reported.
More than 4,000 local elementary school students and teachers filled the Convo for the late-morning tipoff, according to Otterbein Athletics. They nearly saw an upset: the Cardinals, ranked No. 15 in NCAA Division III, trailed by only six at halftime and drew even with the Division I Bobcats midway through the third quarter.
Ohio answered immediately. The Bobcats closed the third quarter on an 18-4 run to create distance from Otterbein heading into the final period, Otterbein Athletics reported, and the margin held the rest of the way to the 68-44 final.
Senior Kyla Irby led the Cardinals with 11 points, while Mattie Walburn, Cameron Sparks and Anna Waskiewicz each added seven points, according to Otterbein Athletics. Otterbein’s defense kept the Cardinals close for more than a half, forcing the Bobcats into 23 turnovers that Otterbein turned into 18 points.
The game was the Cardinals’ second test of the young season after an 80-43 rout of Alma College in their opener, and it gave a Division III roster a full afternoon measuring itself against a Mid-American Conference program in one of the league’s biggest arenas.
For Otterbein, the loss leaves the Cardinals at 1-1 after their opening rout of Alma, and the showing in Athens had plenty to build on: a Division III team that trailed a Division I opponent by only six at the half and pulled even in the third quarter did it with defense, holding the game within reach until Ohio’s late-third-quarter run, Otterbein Athletics reported.
Education Day has become one of the Convocation Center’s signature mornings — a regular-season game tipped off late in the morning so thousands of Athens-area elementary students can pack the lower bowl, and Monday’s crowd of more than 4,000 students and teachers gave the building a field-trip roar from the opening tip, according to Otterbein Athletics.
What happens next: Otterbein heads to La Roche for a 2 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, Otterbein Athletics said, while Ohio’s nonconference season continues out of the Convocation Center, where Education Day once again doubled as the loudest classroom in Athens County.