The Buckeyes spoil a 15-point Maryland lead to win their first top-10 ranked game of the season
No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball (18-1, 7-1) welcomed the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins (16-3, 6-2), but the Terps were without injured guards Bri McDaniel and Shyanne Sellers. Regardless of the absences, Ohio State withstood a first half 15-point lead from Maryland to defeat the Terrapins 74-66 behind 20 points from Jaloni Cambridge.
With Sellers unavailable, Maryland head coach Brenda Frese started Allie Kubek, giving the Terrapins a more physical starting group. The trio of Kubek, and forwards Saylor Poffenbarger and Christina Dalce blocked the paint effectively on defense. On offense, Frese set the tone inside the paint early, getting passes into the trio with frequency.
Maryland had 10 points in the paint in the first quarter, plus six offensive rebounds, which matched Ohio State’s entire rebounding total in the first 10 minutes. Those six offensive rebounds for the Terps turned into 10 second chance points.
That meant the Buckeyes needed to be efficient outside of the paint, but it wasn’t happening for the home side. Ohio State missed all seven chances from beyond the arc, shooting 27.8 percent for the first quarter.
Buckeyes’ head coach Kevin McGuff was visibly frustrated with his side’s lack of success on both sides of the court, going through his entire 10-player active roster in the first seven minutes of the game, in hopes that a combination or single player could get Ohio State out of a 10-point deficit at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Terps increased the lead to 14 points before the Buckeyes started getting some momentum offensively, and making stops on defense. Three-point shots by Taylor Thierry and Jaloni Cambridge got the game to within 10 points again, with the two programs trading shots, and then Ohio State went on a six-point run. That was the team’s largest of the game to that point.
Thierry also took the brunt of the physical play in the first half in the second quarter. On defense, Thierry took a bump from Kubek under the rim, rightfully called a blocking foul on the Ohio State senior. However, Thierry had to go to the back, holding a towel to her face in what looked like a bloody nose for the forward. Thierry returned before the end of the half, scoring four points in the first 20 minutes.
During the six-point run, frustration mounted on the Ohio State sideline for what looked like a lack of calls going in favor of the Buckeyes, judging the response of McGuff to the officials. On consecutive runs to the basket, Cambridge attacked the rim, took contact, but didn’t hear a whistle. Each time ending with McGuff offering constructive criticism to the referees on the court.
At halftime, Ohio State cut their deficit to seven points, entering the locker room with a negative 13 rebounding margin with the visitors out rebounding the Buckeyes 30-17.
Out of halftime, Maryland went back inside the paint, dumping the ball off to Kubek for six points inside the paint. Overall, the Terps shot 6-of-7 in the first 4:10 of the half, putting the Buckeyes deficit back to double digits, forcing McGuff to call a timeout to regroup.
Out of the timeout, Ohio State went into the press aggressively with guard Kennedy Cambridge. The Buckeyes forced two quick turnovers on defense and cut the lead to four points. It shot up the decibel levels of the Schottenstein Center, forcing coach Frese to try and calm her team and the crowd with a timeout, less than 50 seconds after Ohio State.
The older Cambridge sister brought intensity and defensive pressure but also two key offensive moments. Down four, The Buckeyes picked up possession in their defensive half of the court and McMahon sent a quarterback pass up the court to Kennedy Cambridge. Dalce ran up behind the guard to try and block the ball away from the shorter guard but Kennedy Cambridge felt the presence and hesitated on the layup, hitting the shot.
After making the theatrical layup, Kennedy Cambridge celebrated the shot by crouching down and sticking out her tongue and she rolled her head around. Then, on the next offensive play, hit a three-point shot that gave Ohio State their first lead of the game.
It was part of a 15-point run where the home side kept the visitors off the scoreboard for over four minutes of game clock, swinging a quarter high 10-point deficit into a five-point lead with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
In the third, Ohio State forced five turnovers and turned them into nine additional points. The Buckeyes ended up taking a three-point lead into the final quarter, giving the crowd hope when it didn’t feel like there was much only 10 game minutes prior.
Ohio State started the fourth quarter aggressively, taking advantage of a Maryland side rotating mainly a group of six different players who looked tired, not making the same shots in the paint as they had in the three previous quarters.
Suddenly, a Scarlet and Gray side that looked defeated in the first half came to life in the second and had under eight minutes to hold a 10-point lead to get their first top-10 victory of the season.
Foul trouble hit both teams late in the game, with former Rutgers star Kaylene Smikle, starting point guard Sarah Te-Biasu each earning four fouls with under four minutes remaining. McMahon and Jaloni Cambridge were in the same boat, but regardless, Frese and McGuff Brough all four into the game with over three minutes remaining, as Maryland trimmed their 10-point deficit to six points.
Ohio State held on, getting important minutes out of not only Kennedy Cambridge but freshman center Elsa Lemmilä. The Finnish center played 21 minutes with five rebounds and four blocks.
Jaloni Cambridge led Ohio State with 20 points, eight rebounds and two assists, while Kennedy Cambridge’s 12 points were a single game career high for the redshirt sophomore in scarlet and gray. In total, four Buckeyes scored in double-digits, with McMahon and Thierry scoring 14 and 13, respectively.
Maryland had a quartet of double-digit scorers too, with guard Kaylene Smikle scoring 17 points and Dalce scoring 10 points with 18 rebounds.
What’s Next
This weekend, the Buckeyes are back on the road. This time, the Scarlet and Gray head to Nebraska to face the Cornhuskers. Although Nebraska dropped out of the top-25 this season, Big Red is on a five-game winning streak, including a ranked win against then No. 20 Michigan State and an overtime win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Buckeyes are on a three-game winning streak against the Cornhuskers, last falling to the program in Lincoln during the 20-21 season.