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No. 11 Ohio State women’s basketball ends home non-conference play, defeats Grand Valley State 82-57
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Ohio State University Athletic Department
Ohio State struggled in moments but played a strong first half to come away with the win
No. 11 Ohio State women’s basketball finished up their home non-conference schedule Tuesday afternoon, defeating Grand Valley State 82-57 behind the junior duo of Cotie McMahon and Chance Gray scoring a combined 44 points.
Without point guard Jaloni Cambridge for the second game in a row, the Buckeyes had a nine-player rotation with older sister Kennedy Cambridge returning from two games away, and early on they showed their class over the Lakers.
In the first quarter, Ohio State scored 17 of the first 19 points behind blistering interior play from forward Cotie McMahon. The junior went to the basket three times in the first 10 minutes, each time hitting a layup and adding a free throw in the process. Combine that with 12 forced turnovers and it looked like the rout was on.
Everything seemed to go right for the Scarlet and Gray, even when things got ugly. Halfway through the first quarter, McMahon stood at the top of the key and fell over. It wasn’t due to contact, but the forward tripped over herself. It gave Grand Valley State a fast break, but guard Ava Watson stopped it at the basket to give Ohio State another turnover. Watson sent the ball down the court to a smiling McMahon, still laughing off the tumble, to put the home side up 18 points.
After defeating the Youngstown State Penguins Saturday, Ohio State lamented not playing with intensity for the full 40 minutes, and the start of the second quarter Tuesday followed that same trend.
Ohio State started the second quarter going 2-of-7 from the floor. It prompted McMahon to yell to her teammates, “Come on, let’s go!” It was in hopes of waking up her fellow Buckeyes on the court, and it worked. Grand Valley State scored three points in the final six minutes and finished going 4-of-8 offensively to end the final 4:21 of the half and entered halftime up 44-18.
Grand Valley came back for the third quarter and played more composed than the first half. In the quarter, the Lakers matched their point total from the entire first 20 minutes of the game, scoring 20 points, including runs of seven and five points. Aiding the visitors was doing a better job of holding onto the ball.
Following the 19-turnover first half, Grand Valley gave the ball away once in the third quarter, limiting Ohio State’s ability to run. The Scarlet and Gray also struggled to hit shots in the second half of the quarter, going 1-of-7 and getting outscored 10-2.
Even so, the Buckeyes still had a 21-point lead with 20 minutes left in the game.
Head coach Kevin McGuff didn’t appear satisfied with the Buckeyes, opting to bring his starters into the game to start the final 10 minutes. With the primary group on the court, Ohio State scored the first five points of the quarter, but three came from the free throw line. Cold shooting continued to plague the Scarlet and Gray, hitting one of their first five shots in the first 3:18 of the quarter.
The defense picked up for the offense, and three early turnovers in the period kept the Lakers from getting much down on offense to make it more of a contest.
With three minutes remaining, McGuff had a mostly back-up group on the court and the game crawled to a finish. In front of a lower capacity game than most, the byproduct of playing at noon on a weekday, Ohio State held onto the lead, beating the Lakers for a second consecutive season.
Ohio State women’s basketball faces their toughest, and last, game of the non-conference schedule Friday when the Buckeyes face the Stanford Cardinal in San Fransisco, CA. Part of the Invisalign Bay Area Women’s Classic.
It’s the lone game of the non-conference regular season schedule against a power conference school, although the Cardinal are in a moment of transition. Beginning the year unranked, Stanford started strong to get back in the top 25 but losses to Indiana and LSU have the now-ACC team regrouping.
The Buckeyes are 1-2 all-time against Stanford in the official record book but do have two wins in 2017 that were vacated due to Ohio State recruiting violations.
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
Ohio State University Athletic Department
Ohio State struggled in moments but played a strong first half to come away with the win
No. 11 Ohio State women’s basketball finished up their home non-conference schedule Tuesday afternoon, defeating Grand Valley State 82-57 behind the junior duo of Cotie McMahon and Chance Gray scoring a combined 44 points.
Without point guard Jaloni Cambridge for the second game in a row, the Buckeyes had a nine-player rotation with older sister Kennedy Cambridge returning from two games away, and early on they showed their class over the Lakers.
In the first quarter, Ohio State scored 17 of the first 19 points behind blistering interior play from forward Cotie McMahon. The junior went to the basket three times in the first 10 minutes, each time hitting a layup and adding a free throw in the process. Combine that with 12 forced turnovers and it looked like the rout was on.
Everything seemed to go right for the Scarlet and Gray, even when things got ugly. Halfway through the first quarter, McMahon stood at the top of the key and fell over. It wasn’t due to contact, but the forward tripped over herself. It gave Grand Valley State a fast break, but guard Ava Watson stopped it at the basket to give Ohio State another turnover. Watson sent the ball down the court to a smiling McMahon, still laughing off the tumble, to put the home side up 18 points.
After defeating the Youngstown State Penguins Saturday, Ohio State lamented not playing with intensity for the full 40 minutes, and the start of the second quarter Tuesday followed that same trend.
Ohio State started the second quarter going 2-of-7 from the floor. It prompted McMahon to yell to her teammates, “Come on, let’s go!” It was in hopes of waking up her fellow Buckeyes on the court, and it worked. Grand Valley State scored three points in the final six minutes and finished going 4-of-8 offensively to end the final 4:21 of the half and entered halftime up 44-18.
Grand Valley came back for the third quarter and played more composed than the first half. In the quarter, the Lakers matched their point total from the entire first 20 minutes of the game, scoring 20 points, including runs of seven and five points. Aiding the visitors was doing a better job of holding onto the ball.
Following the 19-turnover first half, Grand Valley gave the ball away once in the third quarter, limiting Ohio State’s ability to run. The Scarlet and Gray also struggled to hit shots in the second half of the quarter, going 1-of-7 and getting outscored 10-2.
Even so, the Buckeyes still had a 21-point lead with 20 minutes left in the game.
Head coach Kevin McGuff didn’t appear satisfied with the Buckeyes, opting to bring his starters into the game to start the final 10 minutes. With the primary group on the court, Ohio State scored the first five points of the quarter, but three came from the free throw line. Cold shooting continued to plague the Scarlet and Gray, hitting one of their first five shots in the first 3:18 of the quarter.
The defense picked up for the offense, and three early turnovers in the period kept the Lakers from getting much down on offense to make it more of a contest.
With three minutes remaining, McGuff had a mostly back-up group on the court and the game crawled to a finish. In front of a lower capacity game than most, the byproduct of playing at noon on a weekday, Ohio State held onto the lead, beating the Lakers for a second consecutive season.
What’s Next
Ohio State women’s basketball faces their toughest, and last, game of the non-conference schedule Friday when the Buckeyes face the Stanford Cardinal in San Fransisco, CA. Part of the Invisalign Bay Area Women’s Classic.
It’s the lone game of the non-conference regular season schedule against a power conference school, although the Cardinal are in a moment of transition. Beginning the year unranked, Stanford started strong to get back in the top 25 but losses to Indiana and LSU have the now-ACC team regrouping.
The Buckeyes are 1-2 all-time against Stanford in the official record book but do have two wins in 2017 that were vacated due to Ohio State recruiting violations.
Continue reading...