Conference play and a new year means a whole new season for the Flashes as the women’s basketball team (2-10, 1-1 MAC) bounced back Saturday afternoon at the M.A.C. Center from an eight game losing streak to grab a 68-65 win over Ohio University (8-8, 1-1 MAC).

The win comes as a much needed sign of improvement that head coach Bob Lindsay has been waiting to see out of his players.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win,” Lindsay said. “We’ve had a lot of situations this year where we’ve been in close games, and the plays have gone against us. Today, I thought the plays went in our favor, and we did enough to win the game.”

Starting the game out hot, the Flashes pounced on the Bobcats early for a 15-to-8 lead. However, the savvy Ohio squad quickly turned the tables on the Flashes, going on a 24-6 run that reclaimed dominance in the game.

By the time halftime came around, the Flashes had battled their way back into the game and were only down 34-28. After the break, the team looked to take back the lead with a new intensity on the boards.

Juniors Trisha Krewson and Diamon Beckford were relentless on the glass all night en route to a double-double for both. Krewson finished the game with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Beckford with a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.

In the game’s final stretch, the Flashes stepped up over the last 5:17 by taking the lead and never looking back. With just five ticks left on the clock, freshman Itziar Llobet went to the line with a 66-65 lead and sank two free-throws to ice the game for the Flashes.

“It’s a new season and we struggled in 2011, but it’s 2012 and we’re a new team and it’s a brand new season and we feel really good about the win we got today,” Krewson said. “Our whole persona and our whole team morale was elevated today.”

Coach Lindsay got a much needed elite performance out of junior Tamzin Barroilhet who had been struggling all season. Having only her second double-digit points performance of the season, Barroilhet shot an impressive 53 percent from the floor (9-of-17) and made some crucial buckets down the stretch.

Krewson and the other upperclassmen know how much this win means as the Flashes look ahead to a tough Mid-American Conference schedule.

“We were confident, we wanted this win and we wanted to win at home in front of our home crowd and we wanted to win for each other,” Krewson said. “I could definitely feel how close we were as a team today and that really helped; we were just playing for each other.”

Saturday’s win may come as a surprise to some, but with the talent in the MAC this season the players know just what they are capable of this year despite a bumpy non-conference record.

“I feel like that’s the beauty of the MAC: any given night a team can upset another team,” Krewson said. “There were already a couple of upsets earlier this week in the MAC, which shows that any team can be on top any game. So if we bring our A game we can really surprise some people in the MAC this year. No one expects us to win so we can play really loose and comfortable and really surprise some people in the end.”

The Flashes will travel to Miami (10-3, 2-0 MAC) on Wednesday to take on the Red Hawks at 7 p.m.  

Contact Matt Lofgren at [email protected] and @GonzoEdu.