A career game for Jaloni Cambridge and double-double for Ajae Petty gave the Buckeyes a key Big Ten win.
The No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball team needed only one win to clinch a top-four seed in the Big Ten Tournament, therefore earning a double-bye into the quarterfinals. To do that, the Buckeyes needed to defeat the No. 23 Michigan State Spartans, who were trying desperately to stay in the running for one of the spots. A career-high 33 points for Jaloni Cambridge and dominant interior play by forward Ajae Petty gave the Buckeyes the clinching 89-78 win, Wednesday in the Schottenstein Center.
Entering Wednesday, the Buckeyes and Spartans were first and second in the conference in steals, frustrating teams with their full-court presses. So it was easy to expect a defensive battle between the two top-25 nationally ranked teams. It was anything but, combining for 95 points in the first half and Ohio State were the aggressors.
After nearly a month and a half of cold shooting for forward Ajae Petty, and shrinking minutes for the graduate senior, the forward had a double-double Sunday against the Purdue Boilermakers. There was reason for skepticism that Petty was fully back to the form that made her one of only four SEC players averaging a double-double last season, with Purdue sitting in 16th place in the Big Ten and Ohio State winning by 52 points. Petty erased that doubt in the first half against the Spartans.
Petty played her best half of basketball in scarlet and gray Wednesday night. The forward was active on the boards and didn’t hesitate in her shooting, something that seemed to always end with a missed shot in previous games. The forward took firm control of her spot in the starting lineup with nearly a double-double in the first 20 minutes, scoring 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting with nine rebounds, three coming on the offensive boards.
Ohio State and Michigan State started the game each giving the ball away, but not due to their defensive prowess. The Buckeyes had a backcourt violation off of a bad pass and the Spartans overthrew each other for an out-of-bounds going Ohio State’s way. Both teams quickly knocked off the rust and began hitting baskets with regularity.
The Buckeyes hit more though, hitting two or three shots in a row to every one made attempt for the Spartans, and at a high clip shooting 66.7% from the floor in the first 10 minutes. Ohio State used their strong shooting to build a 10-point lead with 1:38 remaining in the first period.
However, Michigan State is known for not being down for too long. The Spartans play a lot like the Buckeyes of the past few seasons, never knowing a deficit they can’t overcome. Michigan State tried in the second quarter, but Petty was too strong for the Spartans, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds in the second quarter alone.
When Petty went out of the game, center Elsa Lemmilä picked up defensively. While former Oregon Duck forward Grace Vanslooten made a couple of veteran plays to get past Lemmilä in the paint, Lemmilä got the best of the junior in the second quarter. On one drive, Vanslooten went up for a layup that Lemmilä blocked away. Vanslooten got the loose ball and tried again but Lemmilä was there once again to knock the ball away. Those plus a block against guard Julia Ayrault in the first quarter and Lemmilä had three in the first half with only seven minutes on the court.
Ohio State took a 54-41 lead into halftime but still had 20 minutes left to try and hold off the hard-to-break Spartans.
Out of the halftime locker room, Michigan State tried to trim the lead, but Ohio State kept shooting and hitting shots with consistency. Petty started with a layup, bringing her scoring total to 19 so far in the game. Then freshman Jaloni Cambridge and junior Cotie McMahon took over the scoring. The two combined for 22 of the next 24 points in the quarter, with Cambridge going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and McMahon hitting both of her threes in the period.
Defensively, Ohio State held the visitors to 27.3% shooting from the floor in the third quarter, including two more blocks from Lemmilä to match her career high of five, which she had against the Ohio Bobcats. On the other side of the court, the Buckeyes hit 69.2% of their shots and It helped the home side extend their lead to 20 points.
Michigan State wouldn’t be counted out so easily and the Spartans started the fourth quarter strong. In the first three minutes of the period, Sparty scored nine of the first 11 points of the game, trimming the deficit to 13 points and causing head coach Kevin McGuff to call a timeout and regroup his side.
With 4:16 remaining, Michigan trimmed it to a seven-point game when the Spartans stretched their run to 12 points. McMahon stopped the run with an attack to the basket, ending a run of nearly six minutes without any points for Ohio State.
On the next offensive drive, after a stop on the defensive end, Cambridge hit a jumper to bring the lead back to double-digits, prompting a timeout from the Green and White.
That pause in play and an Ohio State foul gave MSU two free throws, but the Buckeyes responded again with Cambridge and Petty each hitting shots inside the paint, putting the lead back up to 13 points with 1:31 remaining. It was a lead Ohio State wouldn’t give up, beating the Spartans to earn an important double-bye and a quad one win for consideration in hosting early rounds of March Madness.
Cambridge led all scorers with 33 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Petty scored 23 points on 11-of-11 shooting with 15 rebounds, five coming offensively. McMahon added 17 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep.
Michigan State guard Theron Hallock scored 29 points, going a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc. Vanslooten nearly had a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds.
What’s Next
Ohio State has one more game left in the regular season, and it’s a tough one. The Buckeyes head to College Park, Maryland to face the No. 19 Maryland Terrapins on Sunday, March 2. The game will tip off at 4:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FS1.
Head coach Brenda Frese’s Terps are the only Big Ten side the Buckeyes have faced twice this season. On Jan. 23, Maryland traveled to Columbus and returned home with a 74-66 defeat.
However, Maryland lost without guards Bri McDaniel and Shyanne Sellers. While McDaniel is still out for the remainder of the season and beyond with an ACL injury, Sellers returned following the defeat to Ohio State and has Maryland playing strong basketball again. The Terrapins have four wins in the last five games but get one less day of rest than the Buckeyes before Sunday’s game. Maryland travels to Bloomington, Indiana, to face the Hoosiers on Thursday night.