Plus a spot on the weekly conference Honor Roll for the point guard
For the second time this season, the Big Ten featured a player from No. 9 Ohio State women’s basketball in its weekly honors. On Monday, freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge picked up her first conference award, winning Freshman of the Week and a spot on the Big Ten’s weekly Honor Roll.
Cambridge excelled this week, helping the Buckeyes pick up wins against the then No. 25 Michigan Wolverines and the Oregon Ducks. On Wednesday, in Ann Arbor, Ohio State was down 16 points late in the second quarter, with Cambridge going 3-of-11 for seven points in the half.
The No. 1 ranked point guard in the 2024 class bounced back in the second half in a big way. Cambridge led Ohio State to an 84-77 victory, playing all 20 minutes of the last two quarters, scoring 22 of her 29 points in the process. The freshman’s shooting efficiency skyrocketed, going 8-of-12 from the floor in the second half, including 13 in the final quarter to give the Buckeyes their second ranked win of the season.
Despite being shorter than her starting teammates, Cambridge still grabbed six rebounds in the win and lead the team with four assists.
Then on Sunday, Cambridge got into first half foul trouble, and played only 20 minutes in the 69-60 win over the Oregon Ducks. Even so, Cambridge still scored 13 points with four rebounds and three assists.
So far this season, Cambridge is second in the Big Ten in assist (31.5) and steal (4.5) percentage, tracking the percentage of possessions where the player has either an assist or forces a steal. The guard also is fifth in the conference with a defensive rating of 71.3, leveraging her speed and knowledge of the game to force turnovers and win extra possessions for Ohio State.
This Freshman of the Week honor is the first for Cambridge and the first for the program since now junior Cotie McMahon won it on Feb. 20, 2023. In McMahon’s freshman year, the Buckeye won the award six times, including a run of four straight weekly honors.
Cambridge has stiff competition for the award with Rutgers guard Kiyomi McMiller winning it twice so far this season and a trio of Michigan freshman who have all won it at least once. Wolverines guard Syla Swords and McMiller each have two Freshman of the Week awards this season, leading the conference.
Not only did Cambridge’s week win her the freshman honor, but the Big Ten also placed her on the weekly Honor Roll, honoring those players who were just outside of winning the Player of the Week award, awarded to USC Trojans’ guard JuJu Watkins for the third time this season.
Joining Cambridge on the Honor Roll are Big Ten veterans in Shyanne Sellers of Maryland and Alexi Markowski from the Nebraska Cornhuskers.