Three days after a 10-point loss to Indiana, Ohio State (23-4, 12-4 Big Ten) bounced back with a 98-46 senior day victory over Purdue (9-18, 2-14 Big Ten) on Sunday.
Ohio State’s previous two home games ended in overtime home wins, but against Purdue, the home team’s win was never in doubt. The Buckeyes had one of their more efficient outings in Big Ten play making 33-of-63 shots from the field (52.4 percent) including 14-of-27 from 3-point range (51.9 percent). The 21 turnovers forced by the Buckeyes were slightly below their season average, but the 35 points they scored from those turnovers helped account for the huge margin of victory.
The Buckeyes pounced on the outmatched Boilermakers in the very first minute of the game when graduate forward Ajae Petty opened the scoring with a second-chance layup.
3-point jumpers from freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge and junior guard Chance Gray helped Ohio State extend its lead to 13 before Purdue could get on the board.
Purdue forward Reagan Bass helped knock down a 3-point jumper to help lead her team on a 5-0 spurt, but the Buckeyes ended the quarter on an 11-3 scoring to take a 24-8 lead.
Ohio State’s momentum carried into the second quarter when guard Madison Greene and redshirt sophomore guard Kennedy Cambridge each made 3-point jumpers to give the Buckeyes a 30-10 lead. Moments after Cambridge made her triple she tracked down the ball on Purdue’s inbounds attempt and found Eboni Walker under the basket for a layup.
Purdue sophomore guard Rashunda Jones made two layups in a span of 54 seconds to help her team stay within 22 points, but Ohio State scored 12 straight points to take a 53-21 lead with 3:09 remaining in the first half.
Ohio State only made one field goal the rest of the first half but still took a 55-26 lead into halftime.
The Buckeyes didn’t slow down at all in the second half, Gray scored 8 points in the first two and a half minutes of the third quarter to lead the Buckeyes on a 13-3 scoring run.
With his team’s lead up to 42 points to start the fourth quarter, head coach Kevin McGuff gave plenty of playing time to role players like Greene, Walker and Kennedy Cambridge.
The Buckeyes didn’t slow down without all of their regulars on the court, instead, they scored the first 12 points of the final period to take an 89-35 lead with 5:38 left.
Gray was the Buckeyes’ leading scorer with 21 points and five assists. The former Oregon guard shot 8-of-18 from the field including 5-of-12 from 3-point range. Jaloni Cambridge was one behind Gray’s team-high in points. The Buckeyes’ freshman point guard tallied 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting and added five assists in the win which were second only to her older sister Kennedy who finished the game with six assists.
Petty had her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.
Jones was the only Boilermaker to finish the game in double digits in points. She scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting (50.0 percent) in Purdue’s 52-point loss.
