The Buckeyes and Bobcats meet in the first round of March Madness.
It’s that time of year again. It’s March Madness, and for the third season in a row the NCAA Tournament goes through Columbus. This time around, Ohio State women’s basketball enters as a No. 4 seed, narrowly earning the right to host the first two rounds, and it begins with a matchup against the No. 13 Montana State Bobcats.
The Buckeyes are undefeated at home this season, while the Bobcats won 23 of their last 24, in a game where the two sides bring eerily similar playing styles.
Preview
Montana State earned the right to play NCAA Tournament basketball after winning the Big Sky Tournament, and they did it in exciting fashion. Dubbed “Starch Madness” because of the Boise, Idaho tournament location, Montana State took their regular season championship season into the final against the Montana Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies brought a 14-17 record and an interim head coach into the championship game and nearly won it. Down two points, Montana guard Dani Bartsch hit a three-point shot to give the Grizzlies a one-point lead with 7.9 seconds remaining. The Bobcats attempted a play but the Montana defense was too strong, so forward Marah Dykstra ran around a screen and went to the basket.
Dykstra missed the layup, throwing it over the basket but she did not give up on the play. The junior grabbed the offensive rebound on the other side of the rim and hit the second chance basket as the game clock expired.
A shot for the ages… #All4One | #GoCatsGo pic.twitter.com/Dg7Vf1bAkL
— Montana State WBB (@MSUBobcatsWBB) March 14, 2025
“Just to have that moment seal the deal for us to go to March was just such a big deal,” said Dykstra. “But honestly, it’s in the past for me now. I’m just really looking forward to this next game.”
The battle of Montana featured seven lead changes and four ties in arguably the most exciting conference tournament finale of the past two weeks, but like Dykstra said, it’s in the past. The present is Ohio State versus Montana State and it’s a matchup that has similarities.
Defense sticks out the most, with both teams using a full court press. The Bobcats are fifth in the nation in forced turnovers per game (23.67) and lead all Division I programs in steals per game (14.6). While Ohio State is behind them in 11th and 10th place, respectively, the teams played vastly different schedules.
Montana State enters Friday with the 190th strongest schedule in the country, compared to 23 for the Buckeyes. On Nov. 24, the Bobcats played one of their two power conference opponents in the season when they traveled to Utah. The Big 12 side beat Montana State 72-53. To the Bobcats’ credit, they responded.
“What we reflected back on Utah, that was kind of our first big conference game that we had and after that game, we watched film before we went to Las Vegas on just really focusing on doing what we do well and getting back to habits,” said Montana State head coach Tricia Binford.
The Bobcats responded with wins against East Carolina of the AAC and UCF of the Big 12, but the Knights went 6-16 to end the season following that defeat.
Either way, it shows that Montana State can adjust and now, after having a program record season at 30-3, go from the hunter in the Big Sky to the hunted in the NCAA Tournament.
They are led by senior guard Esmeralda Morales, a senior transfer from Portland State, moving within the Big Sky conference to learn from the former WNBA player turned coach in Binford. It worked, with Morales leading the team with 15.3 points and 3.7 assists per game, which earned the senior the Big Sky Player of the Year award.
Morales sets the tone for the Bobcat offense, like Ohio State freshman guard Jaloni Cambridge. The senior stays cool under pressure and directs the team effectively. On defense, Morales adjusted quickly and knew the full court press before the regular season got going for Binford and Montana State.
Elsewhere defensively is Defensive Player of the Year Taylee Chirrick who is amazingly a freshman who only started two of the Bobcats’ 33 games this season. Chirrick led the Big Sky conference with 3.4 steals per game, playing with a seemingly endless motor and turning it into steals.
A question for Ohio State is will there be enough depth to compete with the Bobcats for 40 minutes? Both Cambridge and junior forward Cotie McMahon are good to play after missing the fourth quarter against the UCLA Bruins with a sprained ankle and right arm injury, respectively.
Beyond that, freshmen Ava Watson and Elsa Lemmilä are game time decisions. The shooting guard Watson has not played since scoring 16 points on 4-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc on Feb. 13. The 6-foot-6 center Lemmilä is playing through foot pain and met with a doctor during the week. Lemmilä practiced on Thursday, but was visibly wincing in pain after running a play. Watson participated in practice too and did not have limited mobility.
Should they play, the Buckeyes will have enough depth to rotate effectively to the fast-moving Bobcats. Should they both miss, it gives Ohio State an eight-player rotation that will have little margin for error. Guards Madison Greene and Kennedy Cambridge will get ample minutes and forward Eboni Walker will come in for starting forward Ajae Petty.
Even so, the Buckeyes do have McMahon and Cambridge, who have been enough for Ohio State for much of this season, ending the campaign in third place in the Big Ten behind two No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeded teams in the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans. Ohio State has confidence through their play and have an idea on how they can effectively work through the Montana State defense.
“As far as our offense, making sure that we execute and just do what we do, making the extra pass when needed,” said McMahon. “Hopefully we can get going in transition. I think we would thrive against them to kind of just push the ball because they do press, yeah.”
The Buckeyes practice against the press everyday when they work on their own. On Feb. 26, Ohio State welcomed the Michigan State Spartans to the Schottenstein Center, a team that also played similarly on defense to the Buckeyes. Ohio State had no trouble dispatching the Spartans in an 89-78 win.
Projected Lineups
Ohio State
G- Jaloni Cambridge
G- Chance Gray
G- Taylor Thierry
F- Cotie McMahon
F- Ajae Petty
Montana State
G- Esmeralda Morales
G- Ella Johnson
G- Isobel Bunyan
F- Marah Dykstra
F- Katelynn Limardo
Prediction
Montana State will bring underdog energy into Value City Arena and start the game off strong, but Ohio State will not be surprised by it. The Bobcats will carry a slight lead in the first quarter but the Buckeyes will keep the game manageable until halftime.
In the third quarter, Ohio State will pick up the intensity behind a strong day by Jaloni Cambridge offensively. The guard will excel by getting to the basket and either going to the rim or finding outlets with the Bobcats effectively clogging up passing lanes and leaving room for movement inside the paint.
Overall, the Buckeyes’ athleticism will outmatch Montana State and Ohio State will move on to the NCAA Tournament’s Second Round, on Sunday.
LGHL Score Prediction: 78-60, Ohio State Buckeyes
How to Watch
Date: Friday, March. 21, 2025
Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
Where: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Television: ESPN 2
Stream: ESPN App
Academic All-Big Ten
Before the postseason gets fully going on Friday with the start of the field of 64 teams, the Big Ten announced its Academic Big Ten athletes. The Buckeyes had four players earn the honor. Guards Taylor Thierry, Madison Greene and Kennedy Cambridge received the award with forward Eboni Walker joining the trio.
Greene earns the honor for a program-record fifth time in her NCAA career, with Thierry earning her second. It is the first Academic All-Big Ten selection for Cambridge and Walker.