No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball holds off Nebraska 72-66

The Buckeyes pick up a big road win behind big performances by Thierry and McMahon

The No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball team (19-1, 8-1) traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, playing their lone game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers (15-5, 6-3). After being down for most of the first half, strong deep shooting by Taylor Thierry’s 23 points led the Buckeyes in a 72-66 road victory.

Ohio State entered a rough home environment for Nebraska, who have not lost at home in nearly a year. On top of that, the Cornhuskers found strong form to head into Sunday’s game on a five-game winning steak. From the jump, Nebraska looked like every bit of a team competing in the top five of the Big Ten.

The Cornhuskers were aggressive from deep to start the game, going 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. Each time, the shots came from extra passes with the Buckeyes keeping an extra player near the paint to account for center Alexis Markowski.

Offensively, Markowski still led scoring in the first 10 minutes, accounting for seven of Nebraska’s 21 points. Head coach Amy Williams’ side didn’t have success though on the boards. The Cornhuskers didn’t put extra players near the basket to try and grab offensive rebounds, instead focusing on running back on defense as quickly as possible to slow down the Buckeyes’ offense.

Nebraska’s defense worked well on freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge. The Buckeyes’ first year star matched up with fellow standout freshman guard Britt Prince of Nebraska. The reigning co-Freshman of the Week award winners were on each other from the tipoff, with Prince forcing two turnovers from Cambridge. It was part of a tough first half for the Ohio State freshman, missing her lone attempted shot and giving the ball away three times.

In the second quarter, Ohio State erased their four-point deficit but it was met with an eight-point run for the Cornhuskers. With three minutes remaining in the half, guard Kennedy Cambridge went on a coast-to-coast run, running through four Nebraska players and hitting a layup around Markowski under the rim. It spurred on the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball, holding the Cornhuskers to 2-of-6 shooting to close the half.

Ohio State almost took the lead with less than two seconds remaining. That’s when guard Madison Greene received the inbound pass and threw up a running three-point shot. The shot banked off the backboard and Greene held her hands over her mouth in disbelief, with both teams heading to the locker room with Ohio State up 39-38.

However, after a lengthy review at the scorer’s table, the officiating crew announced they were heading to their room to look at the shot further. On the three-pointer, Greene’s foot stepped on the line, meaning the shot was technically out of bounds and didn’t count.

In the second half, the Cornhuskers and Buckeyes traded baskets and Ohio State tied the game three times, with McMahon leading the charge. After hitting a three-point shot, McMahon anticipated a pass on defense, at the top of the arc, which turned into a fast break layup. Nebraska hit a three to get ahead again, but then the Buckeyes went on a nine-point run to jump ahead.

During the run, four different Ohio State players scored, with Thierry hitting an open three-point shot with the visitors opening up their passing game and finding open shooting opportunities. Kennedy Cambridge hit a layup, then an assist to Greene before a McMahon layup finished off the run.

That McMahon layup started with a block by Kennedy Cambridge on Nebraska’s Prince, from behind. It was one of two blocks from the redshirt sophomore in the period, again adding intensity in a game when Ohio State needed it the most.

Absent from the run was Jaloni Cambridge. The younger Cambridge sister played four minutes in the first 13 of the second half, not taking a shot and watching most of the third quarter, and start of the fourth, from the bench.

When Jaloni Cambridge came in, the tough day for the freshman continued. Within a minute of game time, Jaloni Cambridge earned a foul for a charge. On defense, the freshman leapt to intercept a pass, won the ball but was called for a foul in colliding with a Nebraska player. Then, Jaloni Cambridge had a reach in foul go against the point guard and it sent her to the bench with four fouls and no points.

Nebraska took advantage of their loud home environment and pushed back late, going on a seven-point run. After scoring four of the first six points, the Buckeyes took only three shots in under five minutes, and missed all three. Stopping the cold shooting was Thierry who hit a step-back three-point shot, her fifth of the day.

Markowski responded with a shot in the paint, but Thierry’s three gave the Buckeyes a two-point lead.

Ohio State held on, keeping Nebraska off the scoreboard for the final 1:44 of the game, with Markowski missing two free throws.

On top of Thierry’s 23 points and seven rebounds, McMahon had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, with both team leaders grabbing three steals a piece. Markowski led the way for the home side, scoring 18 points but grabbing only six rebounds, under the senior’s 8.2 rebounds per game average entering Sunday.

What’s Next

The Buckeyes are back on Sunday when they welcome the Washington Huskies to Columbus. It’s the third time McGuff faces his previous program, splitting the last two games. Ohio State hasn’t faced the Huskies since Dec. 5, 2018 with the Buckeyes losing 69-59.

Washington is 4-4 in the Big Ten this season, defeating Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin and Purdue but enter their trip east losing three of the last four games. On Monday, the Huskies are in Bloomington, Indiana to play the Indiana Hoosiers, led by Sayvia Sellers, the Washington sophomore from Alaska who averages a team high 16.6 points per game.