KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan women's basketball captured an emphatic victory this afternoon over the Ohio Bobcats (11-6, 5-3 MAC) by a final score of 74-64. The win is the fifth at home this season for WMU, and is also its fifth MAC victory thus far. The 5-2 MAC start for Western Michigan is the best since 2016-17.

The Broncos (11-5, 5-2 MAC) got off to another slow start in this one, trailing 27-16 after the game's opening 10 minutes of play. Unlike Wednesday's contest at BGSU, however, Western Michigan found its stride in the second, beginning the quarter with an 8-0 run, and cut the Bobcat lead to five going into the locker room, trailing 41-36.

Sophomore guard Lauren Ross sent her squad into halftime on a high note after finding the net from three-point range thanks to a feed from fellow sophomore guard Megan Wagner to end the second. Junior guard Sydney Shafer was a catalyst for the Bronco offense in the first two quarters as she led her team with 14 first-half points on 5-7 shooting, and 4-6 from behind the arc. Lauren Ross added 13 of her own on 4-8 shooting halfway through.

The second half was all WMU, as the Broncos outscored OU in each of the final two periods 38-23 and held the MAC-leading Ohio offense to just 10 third quarter points. Western Michigan spread the ball in the third quarter as six different team members were able to contribute points to the winning cause. WMU swarmed on defense in the third as well, holding the Bobcats to just 25 percent from the floor over the 10-minute stretch.

The final quarter of played began with WMU holding a five-point lead, which quickly grew as a result of the Broncos' 17-2 run to start off the fourth. The streak featured a white-hot shooting performance from senior guard Maddie Watters, who sank four triples in the run's midst, giving her team some breathing room just over halfway through the final 10 minutes.

That run would prove to be the difference as the Bobcats were not able to cut the WMU lead to single digits for the remainder of the contest. When asked how she was able to be so productive, Watters praised her teammates: "I think we played great as a team and we were able to share the ball really well. If it weren't for the team's movement and confidence in me, I wouldn't have been able to get the looks that I did."

As a unit, Western Michigan got a massive boost from the reserves as the squad registered a whopping 40 bench points, accounting for 54.1 percent of the total team offense. The Broncos also scored 20 points off of Ohio miscues and got busy in the paint for 20 points on top of impeccable shooting from three-point range. Furthermore, WMU shot 45.6 percent from the field in the outing, and shot 15-35 (42.9 percent) from deep, which is tied for second-most by any Bronco team in program history. Western Michigan also spread the wealth for a total of 22 total assists, headlined by eight dimes from sophomore guard Megan Wagner, who also took two huge charges for her team on the defensive end.

Sydney Shafer was the high-scorer for the Broncos in this one, finishing with her own season-high of 20 points on 7-14 shooting and a scorching 54.5 percent from behind the arc while knocking down a career-high six threes. She also gave her team six boards and three assists throughout her 29 game minutes. When asked about her own strong production this afternoon, Shafer echoed the same sentiments as Watters and praised a strong team showing: "Maddie and I were getting shots to fall and our teammates knew who the hot hands were. Overall, it was a great team performance."

Maddie Watters tallied 15 points in her 19 minutes, while also doing her fair share of passing, finding open teammates for buckets on four separate occasions. Lauren Ross rounded things out in terms of double-digit scoring, contributing 16 points and a pair of rebounds to the Broncos' winning effort. Sophomore guard Hannah Spitzley notched seven points and grabbed a pair of boards, while redshirt sophomore forward Taylor Williams pulled in 10 big rebounds and added five points for WMU.

Head Coach Shane Clipfell was thrilled with display he saw from his team, and praised his group's persistence when faced with adversity: "This says a lot about our team. We talked about [the end result] being less important as opposed to how we competed, how we performed and how we reacted to adversity. I think we can check the boxes on all of those and say that this team responded exceptionally well."

The Broncos take one day before returning to University Arena on Monday for an evening showdown with Northern Illinois. Tip-off against the Huskies on Jan. 31 is set for 7 p.m. and will also be available for streaming via ESPN3. Tickets for all Bronco home games can be found at wmubroncos.com/tickets or by calling 1-888-4-WMU-TIX.

#LetsRide