LGHL Big Ten WBB Title Race: Indiana takes a step back, Ohio State controls its destiny
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Big Ten WBB Title Race: Indiana takes a step back, Ohio State controls its destiny
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
While a three-team race looks a lot like two now, the Hoosiers have one chance to get right back into the hunt
There are 12 days remaining in the Big Ten regular season. Right now, Ohio State women’s basketball is the master of its own destiny. If it goes a perfect 4-0 to end the season, it earns a conference title. Easier said than done when the final games are against the Penn State Nittany Lions, Maryland Terrapins, Michigan Wolverines, and Iowa Hawkeyes.
Sitting right behind the Buckeyes was a pair of recent league champions who still had a strong say in who was lifting the conference trophy at season’s end. Following the Indiana Hoosiers’ Monday performance, the picture looks a bit different,
Indiana traveled to Champaign, Illinois on Monday to face the Illinois Fighting Illini. Of the top three teams in the conference, the Hoosiers were the lone side not to lose to a team sitting in fourth place or below in Big Ten play. That was until the guards of Illinois put on a show.
Guards Makira Cook and Genesis Bryant played all but four minutes of the Illini’s 86-66 victory, scoring a combined 37 points (Cook with 22 of the 37). Also, forward Kendall Bostic’s 12 points, 11 rebounds, and double-double were half the story of the battle in the paint against Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes. The Hoosiers’ leading scorer in program history led Illinois with 24 points, but had only two rebounds. That’s after entering the game averaging 7.3 per game.
The defeat gives the crimson of Indiana three losses this season, which in this year’s edition of the Big Ten title race puts the Hoosiers in comeback mode. On Thursday, Indiana could be right back in the conversation. That’s when the Hoosiers face the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Taking a look back at the last time these two teams played, on Jan. 13, the 84-57 Indiana defeat doesn’t give the best feelings for Hoosier fans entering Thursday, but now Iowa has to come to Assembly Hall. So far this season, all of Indiana’s four defeats came away from Bloomington.
By the time Indiana and Iowa tip-off, the Buckeyes’ matchup against the Penn State Nittany Lions will likely be over, but a win for Ohio State and an upset win for Indiana changes the outlook of the conference.
Currently, three Buckeye wins in the next three games would lock up a share of the Big Ten title before even going to Iowa City, Iowa on March 3. That’s if Iowa continues to win after dropping to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Feb. 11.
However, an Iowa loss in Assembly Hall changes things. Should Indiana pull off the victory, and the next three games go the way of the Scarlet and Gray, it earns the Buckeyes sole ownership of the Big Ten regular season championship before even stepping foot onto a plane to face the Hawkeyes.
It’s safe to say fans of Ohio State women’s basketball will be watching more than one game’s score on Thursday night.
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
While a three-team race looks a lot like two now, the Hoosiers have one chance to get right back into the hunt
There are 12 days remaining in the Big Ten regular season. Right now, Ohio State women’s basketball is the master of its own destiny. If it goes a perfect 4-0 to end the season, it earns a conference title. Easier said than done when the final games are against the Penn State Nittany Lions, Maryland Terrapins, Michigan Wolverines, and Iowa Hawkeyes.
Sitting right behind the Buckeyes was a pair of recent league champions who still had a strong say in who was lifting the conference trophy at season’s end. Following the Indiana Hoosiers’ Monday performance, the picture looks a bit different,
Indiana traveled to Champaign, Illinois on Monday to face the Illinois Fighting Illini. Of the top three teams in the conference, the Hoosiers were the lone side not to lose to a team sitting in fourth place or below in Big Ten play. That was until the guards of Illinois put on a show.
Guards Makira Cook and Genesis Bryant played all but four minutes of the Illini’s 86-66 victory, scoring a combined 37 points (Cook with 22 of the 37). Also, forward Kendall Bostic’s 12 points, 11 rebounds, and double-double were half the story of the battle in the paint against Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes. The Hoosiers’ leading scorer in program history led Illinois with 24 points, but had only two rebounds. That’s after entering the game averaging 7.3 per game.
The defeat gives the crimson of Indiana three losses this season, which in this year’s edition of the Big Ten title race puts the Hoosiers in comeback mode. On Thursday, Indiana could be right back in the conversation. That’s when the Hoosiers face the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Taking a look back at the last time these two teams played, on Jan. 13, the 84-57 Indiana defeat doesn’t give the best feelings for Hoosier fans entering Thursday, but now Iowa has to come to Assembly Hall. So far this season, all of Indiana’s four defeats came away from Bloomington.
By the time Indiana and Iowa tip-off, the Buckeyes’ matchup against the Penn State Nittany Lions will likely be over, but a win for Ohio State and an upset win for Indiana changes the outlook of the conference.
Currently, three Buckeye wins in the next three games would lock up a share of the Big Ten title before even going to Iowa City, Iowa on March 3. That’s if Iowa continues to win after dropping to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Feb. 11.
However, an Iowa loss in Assembly Hall changes things. Should Indiana pull off the victory, and the next three games go the way of the Scarlet and Gray, it earns the Buckeyes sole ownership of the Big Ten regular season championship before even stepping foot onto a plane to face the Hawkeyes.
It’s safe to say fans of Ohio State women’s basketball will be watching more than one game’s score on Thursday night.
Continue reading...
