The text that Cotie McMahon sent to the team and how last season still lingers in a new look Buckeye roster
Last season, Ohio State women’s basketball entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed, the highest since 2010 when head coach Jim Foster led the Buckeyes. That year in the Second Round, the Buckeyes fell by 20 points to No. 7 seeded Mississippi State.
Last season, Ohio State’s tournament run ended similarly when the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils erased a double-digit first half lead to end the Buckeyes’ season in the Second Round.
“It’s not something that we want to feel again. Not being able to win both games,” said junior forward Cotie McMahon. “It definitely hurt us a lot.”
This time, only two starters from last season were on the roster with freshman Jaloni Cambridge and transfers Chance Gray and Ajae Petty not having that same feeling of defeat as the returning Buckeyes. Add another level to that and both Cambridge and Gray played in their first March Madness games ever Friday night, with the former playing in her first season and the latter not making the postseason in two previous years with the Oregon Ducks.
McMahon and head coach Kevin McGuff did all they could off the court to let the new players know that feeling.
“Cotie [McMahon] sent us a text this morning saying it’s win or go home and have the mentality to go out and have fun and play as hard as we can,” said Gray. “Like McGuff said before the game started, all we’re guaranteed is 40 minutes.”
Gray and the Buckeyes made the most of those 40 minutes, but it was hard going in the first 20.
Ohio State and Montana State traded leads four times in the first quarter and in the second things got even more heated. Following a three-point shot by Gray, the Bobcats went on a 10-point run. to swing the game in the visitors’ favor. Flashbacks to the 2024 NCAA Tournament were mentally not hard to find if the Buckeyes were looking, but they were not.
Instead, Ohio State thought about defense.
“Getting back to being aggressive in the press,” said Gray. “Getting steals and converting the steals, I think that’s kind of what got us going. We talked in the huddle. They went on their run and it was time for us to go on our run.”
Ohio State forced two turnovers, each ending in points for the Buckeyes. Coach McGuff’s side also forced the Bobcats into five missed shots to end the second quarter and eight total going into the third quarter.
Out of the halftime locker room, Gray took the game into her hands and hit three consecutive three-point shots. It started a run of six consecutive baskets and stretched the Ohio State lead to 20 points.
“In the start of the second half, we played really aggressively in transition,” said McGuff. “Sometimes people equate being around the basket with a great shot. But when there’s two people there and you can spray it out to somebody wide open, which is what happened, and Chance was obviously capitalizing on those, we just moved the ball a lot better until we found a better shot than what we were getting in the first half.”
That extra passing worked as designed and the Buckeyes shot 58.8% in the third quarter, the most efficient quarter of the game for Ohio State.
Gray Gets Buckets
No big deal just 3️⃣ straight three pointers to open the second half ️@chancegrayy | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/wDKneOzMQo
— Ohio State Women’s Basketball (@OhioStateWBB) March 22, 2025
Even so, it was defense made the run possible. Ohio State forced eight of the Bobcats’ 26 turnovers in the third quarter. The Buckeyes scored 10 of their 32 points off turnovers in the third period to put the game out of the visitors’ reach.
Gray ended the game with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Cambridge had 12 points with 6 assists and 6 steals. All five starters scored in double figures for the Buckeyes in the 71-51 win over Montana State.
McMahon and guard Taylor Thierry, the other returning starter, each helped avoid the upset too, with Thierry’s team-leading 16 points and six rebounds with McMahon grabbing five rebounds on 15 points. It was an impressive victory, but things are far from over.
The Buckeyes still have one more game remaining at home to avoid breaking the team’s unbeaten the record in Columbus this season and to send Ohio State to the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in four seasons.
“Enjoy this one but it’s short-lived,” said McGuff. “Show up tomorrow, use our practice time to get as prepared as possible and we know we’re going to have a really tough game on Sunday.”