No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball falls apart late, loses to No. 1 UCLA, 65-52

The Buckeyes offense couldn’t match their defense, falling in a closely contested game to the undefeated top team Ian the nation.

The No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball team (20-2, 9-2) had a tall task in front of them with the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins (22-0, 10-0), but battled for four quarters before falling 65-52 behind a 19-point, 14-rebound, double-double from Lauren Betts.

The first half was a story of two different Ohio State teams. In the first quarter, the Buckeyes were defensively sound and their game plan for center Lauren Betts worked well. Instead of double or triple teaming the 6-foot-7 center, head coach Kevin McGuff allowed forward Ajae Petty and center Elsa Lemmilä to defend the big outright, jumping in front of her to prevent entry passes and easy looks.

Ohio State went ahead seven points thanks to a six-point run on the offensive side after getting defensive stops, scoring eight points off eight forced turnovers in the first quarter. Offensive threats Jaloni Cambridge and Cotie McMahon led the scoring in the first, combining for nine points, but once the two went to the bench for rest, the production fell off a cliff.

The Buckeyes went over six minutes between baskets from the first to the second quarter, and along the way the Bruins built an 11-point run to go ahead eight points on the Scarlet and Gray.

In the second quarter, the defense followed the offense’s lead and dipped. First, the turnovers Ohio State forced were suddenly now happening to them, instead. They came in the form of errant passes, reckless dribbling and forced passed that ended up in the hands of the Bruins.

Also, instead of stopping passes from getting to Betts, Petty tried to play physical one-on-one defense from behind, but with a four-inch advantage in height the UCLA junior backed up Petty to the tune of six points while Petty was on the court.

McGuff adjusted and brought in 6-foot-6 freshman center Elsa Lemmilä who played poised both defensively and offensively. The Finnish big scored two consecutive baskets for the Buckeyes, with the first coming off a sound pass from the younger Cambridge, finding the center open for an open layup. On the next basket, Lemmilä picked up a rebound and dribbled through two defenders, including Betts, to hit a hardly fought layup.

Lemmilä scored six points in the first half, all under the basket, going 3-of-5. The rest of the Buckeyes went 3-of-29 from the floor, with Cambridge leading the team at halftime with seven points.

However, the defensive intensity returned in the second quarter and the Buckeyes held the Bruins to 12 points in the quarter. Even so, the home side went into halftime with a six-point lead, holding the visiting Buckeyes to just eight points in the second quarter.

However, Betts was still doing the most damage and scored 13 points with 10 rebounds in the first half, accounting for over a third of the Bruins 30 points in the firsts two quarters.

In the second half, coach McGuff brought back out this starting five, which is normal for the 12th-year Ohio State coach, but waited nearly seven minutes to bring the hot hand of Lemmilä back into the game.

Petty tried to move around the paint and hit shots, but was met with Betts or fouled and went to the free throw line. Unfortunately for the graduate senior, she didn’t hit any of the four she took through three quarters and had zero points on 0-of-5 shooting.

Regardless, the Buckeye defense held UCLA back long enough to get some opportunistic baskets courtesy of McMahon. The junior went to the paint and used her speed and agility to find open looks. Including picking up a loose ball in the paint on the defensive end and running the length of the floor to hit a layup.

Ohio State outscored UCLA 18-14 in the third quarter, courtesy of 16 points split evenly between McMahon and Cambridge. Including a rare three-point shot, only the second in their of first 14 attempts in the matchup.

At the end of the third quarter, the Buckeyes cut the lead down to two points, and tied the game 34 seconds into the fourth quarter. However, UCLA star guard Kiki Rice took the game into her hands, scoring the next four points. It prompted McGuff to call a timeout to regroup, still having a chance at dethroning the top team in the nation.

Then Ohio State’s offense went cold, and so did their defense. The Buckeyes missed five consecutive shots and the Bruins pushed their lead to 13 points, requiring another timeout from McGuff, hoping to wake up the visiting team that lost intensity after the quick run of Rice at the start of the period.

It took 5:51 of game clock between Ohio State baskets. In that time, the Bruins went on a 15-point run to push their lead to an insurmountable 18 points with 3:16 remaining in the game. The Buckeyes went into full court press mode again, m but it was far too late.

Cambridge and McMahon led the Buckeyes with 18 points and 14 points, respectively. Cambridge added eight rebounds and six assists.

Rice scored 12 points for the Bruins, with six coming in the fourth quarter. Forward Gabriela Jaquez scored 15 points, going 4-of-5 in the fourth quarter with a team leading nine points in the frame.

What’s Next

The Buckeyes stay in Los Angeles with a Saturday matchup against the No. 7 USC Trojans. Before Ohio State’s game against the Bruins, the Trojans defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 86-64, in Madison, before heading back home to prepare for Saturday.

Last season, the Trojans and Scarlet and Gray met in Las Vegas, Nevada to start the 23-24 season. Superstar guard JuJu Watkins debuted her NCAA career with 33 points, defeating Ohio State 83-74.