A look inside Ohio State women’s two-headed monster of Ajae Petty and Elsa Lemmilä

How Ajae Petty and Elsa Lemmilä showed what’s possible for Ohio State heading into the postseason.

For three seasons, Ohio State women’s basketball suffered from a vast inferiority inside the paint. Turnovers became the top means of earning extra possessions as the Buckeyes sat at or near the bottom of the conference in rebounding, which still paid dividends, and the Buckeyes won an outright regular season title and made it to the 2023 Elite Eight.

On Wednesday though, head coach Kevin McGuff’s offseason focus of improving in the post finally came to fruition, and showed what’s possible in the Big Ten Tournament and March Madness.

When the transfer portal opened, McGuff was focused on improving three-point shooting and adding size and rebounding inside the paint, landing on Kentucky forward Ajae Petty to fill the gap in the post.

Petty was one of only four players averaging a double-double in the SEC in the 2023-24 season, but the graduate senior got off to a slow start in scarlet and gray. On Thanksgiving week, the forward had a double-double against Old Dominion and nearly added a second in a row against the Utah State Aggies, showing the promise McGuff hoped when he earned her offseason commitment.

After a few good starts in December and early January, Petty began a 10-game slump where the starting forward averaged 5.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. As Petty’s production shrunk, so did her minutes, taken by freshman center Elsa Lemmilä whose confidence began to soar.

Lemmilä averaged 6.8 minutes per game in the first six games of the Big Ten schedule, starting against Rutgers on Dec. 29. By Wednesday afternoon, Lemmilä’s role and production grew to 21 minutes per game where the center averaged 5.9 rebounds (almost two offensive rebounds per game) and 2.3 blocks per game. Ohio State didn’t have a high offensive output by the Finnish freshman, but the defensive gains and uncharacteristic calm for a first year player made the Buckeyes a better team when Lemmilä was on the court.

Then on Sunday, things changed. Out of seemingly nowhere, Petty showed signs that the slump was over. It began with a 12-point, 14-rebound double-double against the Purdue Boilermakers, although it felt like a game needing an asterisk with the West Lafayette side sitting in 16th place in the Big Ten on game day. Plus, the double-double came late in the game when Purdue was more than on the ropes, they were already one foot out of the Schottenstein Center, eventually falling by 52 points.

Combine the overwhelming edge the Buckeyes had over Purdue with the winter drought, and Petty needed to do more to prove that the slump was over. Wednesday put the slump out of the rearview mirror and showed that what was going on behind the scenes was working on the court.

“We had a little more specific conversation,” said McGuff. “Just making sure that she was focusing on what we were trying to do with her: rebound the heck out of the ball, play stout defense around the basket, simple, aggressive moves on offense. And, you know, maybe just crystallized for her.”

It more than crystallized against the Michigan State Spartans, the pressure formed a diamond. From the jump, Petty was the aggressor with eight quick points. In the second quarter, Petty scored nine more points plus eight rebounds (three on the offensive boards). In 13 first half minutes, Petty was already a rebound away from a double-double. Petty hit it quickly in the second half, grabbing a Buckeye season high 15 rebounds.

The graduate senior excelled against forward Grace Vanslooten, a former Oregon Duck star and AAU teammate of Chance Gray and Cotie McMahon. Combine Vanslooten with the play of stretch guard Julia Ayrault and the two combine for 14.5 rebounds per game, with Ayrault hauling in 7.7 per contest.

Against Ohio State, Vanslooten picked up nine, but Ayrault only grabbed three rebounds, all on the defensive end of the court. Petty out-dueled Ayrault with five offensive boards.

“She’s [Vanslooten] a really good player. I sat down and watched a lot of film on her. I was able to see what her different tendencies were,” said Petty. “Then I just went out there and jumped and tried to go grab some boards.”

Petty didn’t only rebound well, she also had a record shooting day, becoming only the third Ohio State player in program history to go perfect from the field with at least 10 shot attempts. Petty went 11-of-11, scoring 23 points. That put the forward near three-time All-American Jessica Davenport in the Scarlet and Gray history books.

The former Kentucky Wildcat gave all the glory to God for the enhanced shooting performance. On the court, Pretty didn’t hesitate on any shots. During the slump, Petty visibly second-guessed herself on shots. Hesitating before going for a basket or midrange shot. That either gave time for a defender to close in or Petty to get into her own head. Against the Spartans, Petty didn’t take time to think, just score.

For Petty’s struggles in some games this season, the results show that she is improving the Buckeyes on the boards. Petty’s six double-doubles are more than anyone has had on the team since the 20-21 season when Dorka Juhász had 12 in 17 games. Ohio State also has four Big Ten teams below them in rebounds per game this season, an improvement over being dead last in that department last year.

What about Lemmilä though? For all the freshman gains, continued play like Wednesday from Petty means less minutes. Does that mean less productivity and impact? Not exactly.

Lemmilä came into the game Wednesday and was a force on defense. The freshman tied her single game high with five blocks. Early in the season, Lemmilä attributed her five block game to playing a much shorter Ohio Bobcats team. Against Michigan State, it was against a 6-foot-3 McDonald’s All-American in Vanslooten and a 6-foot-2 Ayrault. It began with a block where Lemmilä kept pace with Ayrault trying to score under the basket.

Against Vanslooten, Lemmilä blocked her four times. On one possession, Lemmilä blocked the forward twice within a few seconds after Vanslooten grabbed the loose ball on the first swat.

Petty and Lemmilä playing this way isn’t hampering one player or another. It’s making life difficult for opponents.

“The one thing I really like about it is, you know, last couple games, we’ve kind of seen what we’ve envisioned in terms of a little bit of a two-headed monster,” said McGuff. “Where you keep those two fresh and rotate them, and they can they can really wear on other teams post players.”

The two-head monster continues to devour opponents like they did against the No. 23 ranked Spartans, it makes an already dangerous defensive team even more frightening because the forced turnovers and steals aren’t going away. This edition of the Buckeyes is actually getting more steals than last year’s group led by guards Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor.

Now the only question surrounding Petty and Lemmilä is can it continue Sunday against the Maryland Terrapins and beyond through the conference and NCAA tournaments?