AKRON, OH—Erica Williams and Aliyah Kilpatrick combined for 37 points, but it was not nearly enough to offset 16 three-point field goals by the Ohio Bobcats as Winthrop fell 75-54 on the final day of the Akron Classic in James A. Rhodes Arena.
 
With the loss, Winthrop drops to 0-4 while Ohio, the defending Mid-American Conference champions, improve to 2-1.
 
Williams scored 23 on a 10 for 21 field goal shooting performance to tie Ohio's Kyanna Black for game-high honors while Kilpatrick finished with 14 and a team-high eight rebounds for the Eagles. 
 
The story of the game was Ohio's 3-point shooting barrage, particularly to open the game and to begin the third quarter.  The Bobcats connected on 16 of 45 attempts (36 percent) from behind the arc.  They finished the game making 26 of 66 shots overall (39 percent).  Eight different players connected on 3-pointers for Ohio, who averaged nine made treys in its first two games after ranking in the top five nationally last year. 
 
"I really felt we won the energy and effort battle today," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook.  "Now we knew they were going to hit threes and they cast up a lot of them.  Forty-five triple attempts are a lot of attempts, but the three-ball didn't beat us.  If we bring the same effort at Furman on Tuesday night, we will be in good shape."
 
All six of Ohio's first quarter field goals came from long distance and gave the Bobcats a 19-14 lead. The Bobcats finished the first half by scoring 24 of their 31 points on eight 3-pointers by four different players.  Black gave Ohio a quick 3-0 lead just 29 seconds into the game on the first of her three treys.  Kilpatrick answered with a three to knot the score, but Winthrop was never able to take the lead in the game.
 
Winthrop cut the deficit to 31-27 after the first half as Williams and Kilpatrick had 22 points at intermission, but just as in their game on Friday against Akron, the third quarter proved costly as the Bobcats outscored Winthrop 26-14 to take control of the contest with a 57-41 lead.  Ohio made five more 3-pointers in the third period to pad its lead.
 
Winthrop opened the third quarter with a Williams layup off an alley oop pass to trim the deficit to two points at 31-29, but Ohio went on an 15-6 run to build a 46-35 lead at the 5:18  mark of the period.  Winthrop would get no closer than 11 the remainder of the game as the Bobcats extended the lead to 24 at 74-50 with just over three minutes left on another three pointer by Dominque Doseck, who finished the game with four 3-pointers.
 
For the game, Winthrop connected on 21 of 62 field goals (34 percent) and knocked down four of its eight 3-point attempts, but the Eagles struggled from the free throw stripe where they converted 8 of 19 (42 percent). 
 
Bright spots for the Eagles came in the turnover and points off turnover categories where Winthrop committed only 10 turnovers compared to 15 for Ohio and were able to convert the Bobcat miscues into 16 points.  Ohio won the rebound battle 36-25, but unlike Friday's game against Akron when the Zips outscored Winthrop 21-10 on second chance points, the Eagles won that stat on Saturday with a 13-8 advantage.
 
Winthrop will hit the road again on Tuesday when it travels to Greenville, SC to face Furman at 7 p.m.  The Eagles will finally play its home opener next Saturday when they host North Carolina Central at 1:00 p.m.