CLEVELAND — What the heck. Drive to downtown Cleveland about noon today, spend a few bucks at Quicken Loans Arena and treat yourself to a basketball game.
It will be for the Mid-American Conference women’s tournament championship and it should be a beauty.
The Friday semifinals that created a Miami-Ohio University final were worth it. Two games, two overtimes, a combined winning margin of six points.
Here’s how it unfolded:
OU, with guard Quintana Ward putting the Bobcats on her shoulders in the second half, upset top-seeded Bowling Green in double overtime, 68-66, in the nightcap. In the opener, second-seeded Miami allowed Toledo to catch up at 66 with less than two minutes to play, before winning, 70-66, in the final half-minute.
Today’s championship tipoff is set for 1 p.m. The winner gets a bid to the NCAA Tournament next weekend.
Bowling Green (25-7), the defending champion, had a chance to extend its remarkable season.
Remarkable? With only one senior starter returning from last year’s squad, the current team starts two freshmen, a sophomore and a junior, with four more freshmen playing big chunks of time off the bench.
The Falcons, trailing 30-17 at the break, tied the Bobcats (20-12) at 52 in regulation time and at 59 after the first five-minute overtime. And while they trailed 68-66 with four seconds left in the second OT, they had a chance. But freshman Jen Uhl missed a 3-point attempt and freshman Crystal Murdaugh, who rebounded, missed a jumper at the buzzer.
The Bobcats’ Lauren Hmiel converted three-point plays in the final 30 seconds of the first overtime and with 3:39 left in the second. They kept it close for Ward’s game-winning heroics.
“I’m a senior on this team and I just wanted to take it upon myself to do whatever I needed to do to get a win, whether it was playing defense or scoring buckets,” said OU’s Ward. She finished with a game-high 16 points after scoring just four the first half. “I was going to do whatever I needed to do.”
What she needed to do to win was hit a jump shot with 14 seconds left in the second overtime, and that’s what she did.
“We were a gutsy ‘out,’ but it just wasn’t meant for us to be tonight,” said Bowling Green coach Curt Miller, a Baldwin-Wallace graduate.
In the opener, Miami (22-10) took a
33-27 halftime lead on Toledo (14-16). But the Rockets refused to fold and, after trailing 55-47 with under eight minutes to play, tied the game at 60 when freshman Amber Heistan drilled a 3-pointer with 4:28 left.
The RedHawks put it away on Laura Markwood’s basket in the paint and two foul shots by Amanda Jackson in the final half-minute.
“We are going to enjoy this win and this season until about 8 o’clock tonight when we’ll focus on what’s next,” said Maria Frantarosa, Miami’s 10-year head coach.

Ohio 68, BGSU Green 66

OHIO (68): Lauren Hmiel 5-2-12, Chandra Myers 4-0-8, Lauren Kohn 0-0-0, Jennifer Poff 5-2-15, Quintana Ward 7-2-16, Jackie Hiebert 0-0-0, Simone Redd 2-0-5, Jennifer Bushby 2-0-5, Kamille Buckner 3-1-7, Catherine Cain 0-0-0. Totals 28-7-68.
BOWLING GREEN (66): Crystal Murdaugh 1-2-4, Tara Breske 7-0-14, Lauren Prochaska 5-4-15, Lindsey Goldsberry 2-4-8, Kate Achter 3-5-11, Tracy Pontius 3-1-8, Whitney Taylor 0-0-0, Bianca Hooten 0-0-0, Chelsea Albert 0-0-0, Jen Uhl 2-1-6. Totals 23-17-66.
Ohio    30    22    7    9    —    68
Bowling Green    25    27    7      7    —     66
3-point goals: Ohio 5-18 (Poff 3, Redd, Bushby); Bowling Green 3-15 (Prochaska, Pontius, Uhl). Field goals: Ohio 28-72 (38.9 percent); Bowling Green 23-76 (30.3 percent). Free throws: Ohio 7-14; Bowling Green 17-23. Rebounds: Ohio 60 (Hmiel 9, Buckner 8); Bowling Green 47 (Breske 9, Goldsberry 9). Turnovers: Ohio 21; Bowling Green 13. Fouled out: Poff, Breske, Achter.
 

Miami 70, Toledo 66

TOLEDO (66): Tamesha Scotton 2-0-4, Lisa Johnson 2-0-4, Nacole Stocks 3-1-7, Ta’Yani Clark 3-2-10, Olivia terry 5-0-14, Allie Clifton 6-2-16, Kristi Zeller 0-0-0, Jessica Williams 2-0-6, Milissa Goodall 0-0-0, Amber Heistan 2-0-5. Totals 25-4-66.
MIAMI (70): Laura Markwood 4-0-8, Stephanie Ford 4-1-9, Amanda Jackson 7-4-18, Jenna Schone 7-0-19, Briana Dunlap 1-0-3, Ashley Hawkins 3-0-8, Chanell Ridley 0-0-0, Courtney Reed 1-1-5. Totals 28-6-70.
Toledo    27    39    —    66
Miami    33    37    —    70
3-point goals: Toledo 12-20 (Terry 4, Clark 2, Clifton 2, Williams 2, Stocks, Heistan); Miami 8-21 (Schone 5, Hawkins 2, Dunlap). Field goals: Toledo 25-52 (48.1 percent); Miami 28-65 (43.1 percent). Free throws: Toledo 4-11; Miami 6-7. Rebounds: Toledo 37 (Scotton 9); Miami 31 (Markwood 8). Turnovers: Toledo 19; Miami 9. Fouled out: Clark.
 

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