The Buckeyes’ defense struggled and offensively never got going in Bloomington
No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball (22-4, 11-4) was the favorite on paper Thursday against the Indiana Hoosiers (17-9, 9-7), but basketball games are playing on basketball courts. The Hoosiers played the Buckeyes off the court Thursday, defeating Ohio State XX-XX with Jaloni Cambridge and Cotie McMahon leading the scoring in the defeat.
Regardless of the Hoosiers’ record, the Buckeyes had a tall task ahead of them with the three-point shooting threat of Indiana. However, it was the home side’s inside game getting the things started. The Hoosiers passed out of the Buckeyes’ full court press on the first four offensive possessions, each ending in easy lay-up opportunities.
Ohio State eventually slowed down the Crimson in the first quarter after they started 9-of-10, holding the home side to 1-of-6 on their last six shots of the quarter. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, their offense did the same and they couldn’t keep up with the Hoosiers’ 27 points in the first period.
It was much of the same story for the Buckeyes on offense, with junior Cotie McMahon and freshman Jaloni Cambridge carrying the scoring responsibilities. The two combined for 13 of Ohio State’s first 17 points of the game, with Chance Gray and Ajae Petty adding four combined points.
In the second quarter, down nine points, the Buckeyes had a surge of offense with an unlikely group on the court, including graduate seniors Eboni Walker and Eboni Walker alongside freshman center Elsa Lemmilä. Along with McMahon and Thierry, Ohio State scored the first nine points of the quarter to tie the game with 7:30 remaining.
However, head coach Kevin McGuff changed what was working, bringing in Gray and Petty for the final five minutes of the half. In that time, the two starters each had a plus/minus of -6. Also, McGuff’s side collapsed inside the paint on defense, leaving the Hoosiers open from deep, not allowing Petty or Thierry to play any one-on-one defense. Indiana responded with a 3-of-5 shooting quarter from beyond the arc and scored 14 of the final 16 points in the final 7:30 of the quarter while Ohio State shot 1-of-8.
Ohio State went into halftime down 40-28, needing more out of their starting five when they came back onto the court to start the second half.
Instead of Buckeye starters not named McMahon and Cambridge stepping up to the moment to start the half, it was a lot of the same in the beginning of the third quarter. Ohio State went 2-of-5, gave away a turnover and the Hoosiers extended their lead to 14 points when McGuff called a timeout with 6:12 remaining.
In response, McGuff brought back in Lemmilä, Walker and Greene to try and improve defensively. The efficiency of shots fell with the more defensive-minded side on the court but the offense didn’t follow, not allowing Ohio State to pressure the Hoosiers at all in the full court press.
Ohio State went 2-of-7 to end the third quarter with Cambridge and McMahon accounting for six of the attempted shots. Along with one free throw, the Buckeyes could only muster up 11 points in the quarter and Indiana extended their lead to 18 points, scoring 17 in the period.
With 10 minutes remaining, down 18 points, the Buckeyes needed more than a miracle to cut the deficit against the Hoosiers. Ohio State came out aggressively on defense, holding the home side to one point in the first four minutes and no made shots from the field until 5:45 into the period. However, frustration boiled over when McGuff earned a technical with 6:08 remaining after arguing with the referees for a foul call.
With 2:40 remaining, McMahon picked up an intentional foul after official review when her arms were tangled with guard Yarden Garzon. McMahon threw the guard down, resulting in the upgrade.
Before that foul though, Ohio State cut the lead to 11 points. With the two extra free throws on the intentional foul, and a layup by Garzon on the subsequent possession, Indiana’s lead was back up to 15 points with 1:59 left in the game, sealing the victory and stopping any sort of comeback attempt by the visitors.
Cambridge led all Ohio State scorers with 18 points and four steals while McMahon added 14 points. The rest of the starting lineup accounted for 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
For Indiana, four starters scored in double figures, led by guards Sydney Parrish, Shay Ciezki and Garzon who each scored 16 points for the Hoosiers. Garzon had a double-double with 10 rebounds and six assists.
What’s Next
Ohio State is back Sunday, facing the other Big Ten side from Indiana when the Purdue Boilermakers head to the Buckeye state for a noon tipoff. The Buckeyes have one loss in the last five against the Boilermakers, an upset the last time Purdue came to Columbus on Jan. 29, 2023.
As of publishing, Purdue sits in 19th place in the Big Ten, with a 1-7 record on the road. However, both of the program’s wins in conference play came in February, against the Wisconsin Badgers and Northwestern Wildcats. Even so, Purdue travels to Ohio State with two consecutive double-digit losses to Indiana and the Minnesota Golden Gophers.