In 2023, freshman Cotie McMahon surprised legendary head coach Geno Auriemma in the Sweet Sixteen.
In 2018, Central Michigan shocked Ohio State women’s basketball in Columbus in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a 78-95 rout against the No. 11 seeded Chippewas. The Buckeyes waited five years to host the tournament at the Schottenstein Center again, and that came to fruition in 2023.
Senior point guard Jacy Sheldon hit the game-winning shot against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Second Round, which sent the Buckeyes to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2017.
For the Scarlet and Gray, Sheldon and backcourt partner Taylor Mikesell led Ohio State in the prior season, accounting for nearly half of the Buckeyes’ 78.2 points per game and winning a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
Ohio State’s victory over UNC came in a tumultuous season for injuries with Sheldon missing 23 games with a foot injury and redshirt junior guard Madison Greene tearing her ACL for a second straight season.
The entire season felt like an underdog story. Through the lineup struggles, a three-game losing streak in conference play and getting blown out in the Big Ten Tournament final against the Iowa Hawkeyes, there were moments that showed Ohio State still was not an underdog by any means.
Head coach Kevin McGuff’s side won 19 games to start the regular season, including double-digit comeback victories against a ranked Tennessee Volunteers, the USF Bulls and Illinois Fighting Illini. In the Big Ten Tournament semifinal, Ohio State raised a 24-point deficit to defeat the Indiana Hoosiers for the first time in over two years.
Even so, the Buckeyes’ win over the Tar Heels earned the Scarlet and Gray a trip to Seattle, Washington to face the UConn Huskies, the powerhouse of college powerhouses. Head coach Geno Auriemma led UConn to 11 National Championships. In 2023, Auriemma’s Huskies made it to 16 consecutive Elite Eights, and in six previous matchups UConn beat the Buckeyes by an average of 26.3 points per game, five of those coming with McGuff at the helm.
None of that deterred freshman forward Cotie McMahon, always known as a player who will share what is on her mind.
“I’m excited,” said freshman Cotie McMahon. “I want to play UConn so bad.”
For years, UConn was the focal point of college basketball after winning four consecutive national titles twice. The 2023 edition did not feature guard Paige Bueckers, who missed the season due to an ACL tear. UConn still had the 2021 No. 1 overall high school prospect in guard Azzi Fudd, junior forward Aaliyah Edwards and a pair of transfers in Lou Lopez Senechal and former Ohio State forward Dorka Juhász.
UConn was a 10.5-point favorite over the Buckeyes for the Saturday evening matchup and Husky fans and media outlets spent more time looking ahead to Elite Eight opponents than a serious look into the matchup between the two teams. It also seemed like Auriemma and his staff did the same.
In the first 4:03 of the opening quarter, UConn scored 10 of the first 12 points. Ohio State made it respectable early, but could not stop a diverse Huskies attack and with over two minutes left in the first quarter, the deficit sat at eight points. Ohio State scored the next 18 points, holding UConn to a scoreless run of 7:09 that stretched from the first into midway through the second quarter.
Senior forward Eboni Walker scored four points and added three assists in the first quarter and a half while McMahon scored 14 points with two assists in the same period, backing up the desire to play the most successful program in women’s basketball history with action.
The first basket for McMahon came on a rebound where the freshman grabbed the board on the defensive end and was not interested in running a play offensively. McMahon ran the length of the court to make a layup around Edwards. It foreshadowed the entire game and eventual victory for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State swung the game from an eight-point deficit to a nine-point lead in the second quarter, and hit a first half high 11-point lead. McMahon only scored four points in the second half, but other Buckeyes stepped into her place. Mikesell, who played through injury for the postseason stretch scored nine second half points, while in visible pain on the court.
Guard/forward hybrid Taylor Thierry had a team-high four steals, part of a 25-turnover day for UConn. Sheldon scored 17 points with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. The Buckeyes did not only beat the Huskies, they completely stifled them in a 73-61 Sweet Sixteen victory for Ohio State, the program’s second in 26 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
The freshman McMahon led the Buckeyes with 23 points, hitting two shots from beyond the arc for only the third time that season.
After the game, McMahon’s excitement that followed the UNC win, specifically wanting to play UConn, turned into an assuredness that underline the entire team’s performance against the Huskies.
“I mean, you don’t, obviously, want to come into a game expecting to lose or kind of even being nervous,” said McMahon. “I feel like, we as a team, we weren’t nervous. We looked at it as any other game. I feel like that’s really what helped us, not to feed in — you know, the fact that they are UConn.”
For the Huskies, there was the usual, emotional, player responses to playing in their final college games. Juhász and Senechal had trouble holding back their emotions after a long season where the two were the most consistent players on a UConn team that struggled with injuries too.
Head coach Auriemma was more laid back, despite not being in this position too often in his time with the Huskies. The relaxation afforded him the luxury of truth, no matter how bad it looked after the fact.
“A lot of times in these games the players that get all the attention throughout the season, the key players on your team that everybody focuses on,” said Auriemma. “And then invariably it’s somebody else that steps up and ends up being the difference-maker in the game, right?”
That was in response to a question about McMahon’s performance. The Big Ten Freshman of the Year who averaged a double-double in the Big Ten Tournament. The six-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week seemed like a moment of hindsight for the iconic UConn program leader.
The lack of attention in game planning for the Centerville, Ohio freshman helped Ohio State move on to the Elite Eight. Against the Virginia Tech Hokies, forward Liz Kitley and guard Georgia Amoore were too much for the Buckeyes and Ohio State went back to Columbus with a 74-84 defeat.
Even so, it does not tarnish one of the top moments in program history, achieved by a team that faced their battles throughout the season and did not back down to a team many saw as the clear favorites.
Catch up on all the March Madness memories as Land-Grant Holy Land gets you ready for Ohio State women’s basketball and the 2025 NCAA Tournament:
- Kelsey Mitchell’s 45-point game
- Francine ‘The Machine’ Lewis, Buckeyes’ first tournament wins
- Jessica Davenport’s perfect day