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Ohio State Women’s March Madness Memories: Francine ‘The Machine’ Lewis, Buckeyes’ first tournament wins
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The 1984-85 Ohio State women’s basketball team | Ohio State University athletic department
The first real success for the Scarlet and Gray in the tournament came 40 years ago, with Tara VanDerveer leading the program.
It took 43 years after the first NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the national governing body of collegiate athletics to create one for women basketball players. In the first three years, Ohio State women’s basketball did not have a lot of success in the newly formed annual tournament fans know today as March Madness.
There wasn’t much success either in the previous 11 years playing in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), when Ohio State made only two of the 11 tournaments.
In 1982, the inaugural year of the tournament, the Buckeyes traveled to Des Moines, where Ohio State lost to the Drake Bulldogs 90-79. It would be two years before the Buckeyes had another chance after Ohio State missed the tournament entirely in 1983. The Big Ten only received one spot in the tournament and it went to the Indiana Hoosiers, who the Buckeyes shared the Big Ten title with in the first year the Big Ten officially sponsored women’s basketball.
The Buckeyes made their second appearance in 1984 as a No. 5 seed and played in Columbus against the Ole Miss Rebels, seeded at No. 4. Ole Miss won in a 22-point rout. Back then, teams did not get to host based on seeding but how many people you can get out to the arena, so when the Rebels beat the Buckeyes in St. John Arena, it was after the university convinced the NCAA that it would bring out a larger crowd than others in the region.
Ole Miss entered the No. 10 ranked team in the country with a 23-5 record, compared to the 22-7 Buckeyes who entered the tournament ranked No. 20 but sat outside of weekly polling for 12 consecutive weeks.
For three years, Ohio State pined for a tournament win. Head coach Tara VanDerveer, a well known fierce competitor, had a team featuring future two-time All-American Tracey Hall, who was a freshman in the 1984-85 season but was second on the team in scoring (12.8 points per game) and first in rebounds (8.3 rebounds per game). Plus, senior guard Yvette Angel, who ended her Buckeye career second all-time in steals and assists before playing one year in the WNBA in 1997 and then becoming a coach.
In the postseason, after Ohio State won the conference title for the third straight season, one name stood out among the rest with junior forward Francine “The Machine” Lewis. The 6-foot-2 center, fresh off a second consecutive All-Big Ten selection, would not let the Buckeyes be denied a third time.
Hall led the way in the first game of the tournament, a lopsided 104-60 victory where the freshman led the team with a 12-point and 10-rebound double-double. Angel led all scorers with 18 points, fitting with the future WNBA player leading the 84-85 team with 14.1 points per game.
Ohio State finally had their first NCAA Tournament win. “The Machine,” a nickname bestowed upon the Mansfield, Ohio native in her high school days, had an un-machine like performance with nine rebounds and six points. Picking up four fouls kept the forward to only 18 minutes. It was not a day that lived up to the forward’s usual standards, but with the Atlantic-10 Tournament championship-winning Penn State up next, Lewis was ready.
“This is it, you have to approach this game like it’s the last game of the season,” said Lewis. “You have to give it your all because there may be no tomorrow.”
Lewis’ response did not surprise coach VanDerveer.
“She sizes up the opposition and then makes up her mind to play if there is going to be a challenge. It sounds like she is ready to play.”
VanDerveer shared a refreshing truth not often heard in the current game, where a player and coach outright say that players do not show up for every opponent. It makes sense considering the final scoreline that Lewis was not too motivated against Holy Cross.
“To me, it’s not fun really pouring it on against someone who can’t stop me,” said Lewis. “I like to go against someone who is going to make me work. That way, when you’ve had a good game, you’ve really worked for it. 12 or 15 points against some teams means a heck of a lot more than 20 or 30 against some others.”
Against Penn State, Lewis had 6-foot-3 center Kahadeejah Herbert to contend with in the next round. The center averaged 16.1 points and 8.8 rebounds in the 84-85 season. In the second round of the tournament (some teams received a first round bye, with both Ohio State and Penn State going right into the second round), Herbert had 23 points and eight rebounds in the Nittany Lions' win over the UNC Tar Heels.
After nearly nine minutes of the first half, the Buckeyes found themselves with an 11-point deficit, down 31-20 on brain lapses on the court. At one point, Lewis picked up an important rebound and tried a behind-the-back pass that was intercepted by Penn State.
“I told her, ‘Francine, we’ll work on that next year. But forget about it this year,’” said VanDerveer.
Ohio State entered the tournament as a No. 2 seed, but earlier in the season when the two teams played, Penn State was the favorite. The Nittany Lions were No. 10 in the country when the two sides met at St. John Arena on Dec. 2, 1984.
In that game, Angel led the Buckeyes with 28 points in a 66-59 Ohio State upset. So, in the NCAA Tournament, the Scarlet and Gray were sure that the Nittany Lions would try and neutralize the New York native.
Angel had eight points against Penn State in the Sweet Sixteen, but on that day Lewis would more than reinforced her standing as “The Machine.”
Ohio State went on a 22-8 run in the last 11 and a half minutes of the first half (the NCAA did not move women’s games to four quarters until the 2015-16 season) and Lewis led the way.
“I could read her like a book,” said VanDerveer. “She came to play.”
VanDerveer’s plan that day was to get the Nittany Lions’ interior presence in foul trouble, so teammates found Lewis frequently. The center took 24 shots, 13 more than the next highest shooter in the game. Penn State had five players with at least three fouls, with starting forward Lorraine McGirt and 6-foot-3 bench center Bethany Collins each earning four. Herbert had three.
Lewis ended the game with a career-high 31 points, plus a game-high 14 rebounds. “The Machine” was not only hitting a lot of shots, but she also made the timeliest one of them all, late in the second half.
Despite Ohio State building an eight-point lead early in the second half, the Nittany Lions did not go away. The two teams traded the lead nine times in the game. In the second half, Herbert gave the Lions a 68-67 lead and the Buckeyes had to battle. With 16 seconds remaining, Lewis scored her final points of the game with a turnaround jumper from two feet out.
That shot gave the Buckeyes a 79-76 lead, cementing the first Sweet Sixteen victory in Ohio State’s NCAA Tournament history.
“We did not play well,” said VanDerveer. “We got by on slop tonight. We got by on individuals doing their thing.”
The win still counted the same and Ohio State played Old Dominion in the program’s first Elite Eight game. The Monarchs were a power in women’s basketball at the time. Ohio State’s game against Old Dominion was an old power going up against a team in Ohio State that hoped it could elevate its standing in the sport.
To make the game even more exciting for the Buckeyes, who went from having an 0-2 record in the NCAA Tournament to 2-2 in the span of six days, ESPN aired the game. It was the first national television audience to watch Ohio State in program history, something that is commonplace in today’s game.
Despite a team-leading 18 points and 11 rebounds from the Cleveland freshman Hall, Old Dominion defeated the Buckeyes 72-68 to move into the Final Four. It would be eight years before the program’s lone Final Four appearance.
After the defeat in 1985, the Buckeyes changed. Coach VanDerveer left for Stanford in what became a record-breaking career where the coach won 1,216 games. It was an NCAA record for men or women that lasted one season until UConn head coach Geno Auriemma broke it on Nov. 20, 2024.
Hall increased her scoring output each year for the next three seasons under new Ohio State head coach Nancy Darsch. The 1985 Big Ten Freshman of the Year went on to win three spots on the All-Big Ten team, two Big Ten Player of the Year awards and two All-American honors.
Ohio State only won two or more games in an NCAA Tournament nine more times in program history in 28 appearances, but it all began with 1985.
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ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
The 1984-85 Ohio State women’s basketball team | Ohio State University athletic department
The first real success for the Scarlet and Gray in the tournament came 40 years ago, with Tara VanDerveer leading the program.
It took 43 years after the first NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the national governing body of collegiate athletics to create one for women basketball players. In the first three years, Ohio State women’s basketball did not have a lot of success in the newly formed annual tournament fans know today as March Madness.
There wasn’t much success either in the previous 11 years playing in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), when Ohio State made only two of the 11 tournaments.
In 1982, the inaugural year of the tournament, the Buckeyes traveled to Des Moines, where Ohio State lost to the Drake Bulldogs 90-79. It would be two years before the Buckeyes had another chance after Ohio State missed the tournament entirely in 1983. The Big Ten only received one spot in the tournament and it went to the Indiana Hoosiers, who the Buckeyes shared the Big Ten title with in the first year the Big Ten officially sponsored women’s basketball.
The Buckeyes made their second appearance in 1984 as a No. 5 seed and played in Columbus against the Ole Miss Rebels, seeded at No. 4. Ole Miss won in a 22-point rout. Back then, teams did not get to host based on seeding but how many people you can get out to the arena, so when the Rebels beat the Buckeyes in St. John Arena, it was after the university convinced the NCAA that it would bring out a larger crowd than others in the region.
Ole Miss entered the No. 10 ranked team in the country with a 23-5 record, compared to the 22-7 Buckeyes who entered the tournament ranked No. 20 but sat outside of weekly polling for 12 consecutive weeks.
For three years, Ohio State pined for a tournament win. Head coach Tara VanDerveer, a well known fierce competitor, had a team featuring future two-time All-American Tracey Hall, who was a freshman in the 1984-85 season but was second on the team in scoring (12.8 points per game) and first in rebounds (8.3 rebounds per game). Plus, senior guard Yvette Angel, who ended her Buckeye career second all-time in steals and assists before playing one year in the WNBA in 1997 and then becoming a coach.
In the postseason, after Ohio State won the conference title for the third straight season, one name stood out among the rest with junior forward Francine “The Machine” Lewis. The 6-foot-2 center, fresh off a second consecutive All-Big Ten selection, would not let the Buckeyes be denied a third time.
Hall led the way in the first game of the tournament, a lopsided 104-60 victory where the freshman led the team with a 12-point and 10-rebound double-double. Angel led all scorers with 18 points, fitting with the future WNBA player leading the 84-85 team with 14.1 points per game.
Ohio State finally had their first NCAA Tournament win. “The Machine,” a nickname bestowed upon the Mansfield, Ohio native in her high school days, had an un-machine like performance with nine rebounds and six points. Picking up four fouls kept the forward to only 18 minutes. It was not a day that lived up to the forward’s usual standards, but with the Atlantic-10 Tournament championship-winning Penn State up next, Lewis was ready.
“This is it, you have to approach this game like it’s the last game of the season,” said Lewis. “You have to give it your all because there may be no tomorrow.”
Lewis’ response did not surprise coach VanDerveer.
“She sizes up the opposition and then makes up her mind to play if there is going to be a challenge. It sounds like she is ready to play.”
VanDerveer shared a refreshing truth not often heard in the current game, where a player and coach outright say that players do not show up for every opponent. It makes sense considering the final scoreline that Lewis was not too motivated against Holy Cross.
“To me, it’s not fun really pouring it on against someone who can’t stop me,” said Lewis. “I like to go against someone who is going to make me work. That way, when you’ve had a good game, you’ve really worked for it. 12 or 15 points against some teams means a heck of a lot more than 20 or 30 against some others.”
Against Penn State, Lewis had 6-foot-3 center Kahadeejah Herbert to contend with in the next round. The center averaged 16.1 points and 8.8 rebounds in the 84-85 season. In the second round of the tournament (some teams received a first round bye, with both Ohio State and Penn State going right into the second round), Herbert had 23 points and eight rebounds in the Nittany Lions' win over the UNC Tar Heels.
After nearly nine minutes of the first half, the Buckeyes found themselves with an 11-point deficit, down 31-20 on brain lapses on the court. At one point, Lewis picked up an important rebound and tried a behind-the-back pass that was intercepted by Penn State.
“I told her, ‘Francine, we’ll work on that next year. But forget about it this year,’” said VanDerveer.
Ohio State entered the tournament as a No. 2 seed, but earlier in the season when the two teams played, Penn State was the favorite. The Nittany Lions were No. 10 in the country when the two sides met at St. John Arena on Dec. 2, 1984.
In that game, Angel led the Buckeyes with 28 points in a 66-59 Ohio State upset. So, in the NCAA Tournament, the Scarlet and Gray were sure that the Nittany Lions would try and neutralize the New York native.
Angel had eight points against Penn State in the Sweet Sixteen, but on that day Lewis would more than reinforced her standing as “The Machine.”
Ohio State went on a 22-8 run in the last 11 and a half minutes of the first half (the NCAA did not move women’s games to four quarters until the 2015-16 season) and Lewis led the way.
“I could read her like a book,” said VanDerveer. “She came to play.”
VanDerveer’s plan that day was to get the Nittany Lions’ interior presence in foul trouble, so teammates found Lewis frequently. The center took 24 shots, 13 more than the next highest shooter in the game. Penn State had five players with at least three fouls, with starting forward Lorraine McGirt and 6-foot-3 bench center Bethany Collins each earning four. Herbert had three.
Lewis ended the game with a career-high 31 points, plus a game-high 14 rebounds. “The Machine” was not only hitting a lot of shots, but she also made the timeliest one of them all, late in the second half.
Despite Ohio State building an eight-point lead early in the second half, the Nittany Lions did not go away. The two teams traded the lead nine times in the game. In the second half, Herbert gave the Lions a 68-67 lead and the Buckeyes had to battle. With 16 seconds remaining, Lewis scored her final points of the game with a turnaround jumper from two feet out.
That shot gave the Buckeyes a 79-76 lead, cementing the first Sweet Sixteen victory in Ohio State’s NCAA Tournament history.
“We did not play well,” said VanDerveer. “We got by on slop tonight. We got by on individuals doing their thing.”
The win still counted the same and Ohio State played Old Dominion in the program’s first Elite Eight game. The Monarchs were a power in women’s basketball at the time. Ohio State’s game against Old Dominion was an old power going up against a team in Ohio State that hoped it could elevate its standing in the sport.
To make the game even more exciting for the Buckeyes, who went from having an 0-2 record in the NCAA Tournament to 2-2 in the span of six days, ESPN aired the game. It was the first national television audience to watch Ohio State in program history, something that is commonplace in today’s game.
Despite a team-leading 18 points and 11 rebounds from the Cleveland freshman Hall, Old Dominion defeated the Buckeyes 72-68 to move into the Final Four. It would be eight years before the program’s lone Final Four appearance.
After the defeat in 1985, the Buckeyes changed. Coach VanDerveer left for Stanford in what became a record-breaking career where the coach won 1,216 games. It was an NCAA record for men or women that lasted one season until UConn head coach Geno Auriemma broke it on Nov. 20, 2024.
Hall increased her scoring output each year for the next three seasons under new Ohio State head coach Nancy Darsch. The 1985 Big Ten Freshman of the Year went on to win three spots on the All-Big Ten team, two Big Ten Player of the Year awards and two All-American honors.
Ohio State only won two or more games in an NCAA Tournament nine more times in program history in 28 appearances, but it all began with 1985.
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