In one of its better offensive performances of the season, No. 12 Ohio State (24-4, 13-4 Big Ten) outscored Michigan State (20-8, 10-7 Big Ten) 89-78 on Wednesday.
The Buckeyes’ offensive outburst was led by freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge and graduate forward Ajae Petty who combined for 56 points during the win. Cambridge herself led the team with a career-high 33 points on 12-of-22 shooting, which included 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.
As a team, the Buckeyes had one of their most efficient performances of the season and shot 34-of-62 from the field (54.8 percent) and 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from 3-point range.
Ohio State’s offense was virtually unstoppable from the very start of the game. Graduate forward Ajae Petty and junior guard Chance Gray fueled the Buckeyes by scoring 14 of the team’s first 18 points.
As a team, the Buckeyes made 10 of their first 12 shots from the field to take a 23-16 lead at the 3:03 mark of the first quarter.
Like the Spartans, the Buckeyes had their own defensive issues in the first quarter and they allowed the road team to shoot 11-of-17 in the opening frame. Still, the Buckeyes took a 31-24 lead into the second quarter.
Neither offense slowed down in the first four minutes of the second quarter. Petty continued to play with tenacity in the paint. She scored 5 points and corralled four rebounds in the first 4:07 of the second quarter, and on the other end Michigan State guard Theryn Hollack drained two 3-point shots. Despite Michigan State’s solid start to the second quarter, a three-pointer made by junior forward Cotie McMahon at the 5:34 mark helped Ohio State take a 45-32 lead, which was its largest lead of the game to that point.
Petty refused to cool down in the second quarter. She made her seventh and eighth straight field goals of the game in a span of 1:20 to give the Buckeyes a 49-36 lead at the 3:31 mark. Freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge knocked down a three-point shot on Ohio State’s next offensive possession, and even though they failed to make a field goal in the last 2:59 of the first half, the Buckeyes took a 54-41 lead into halftime.
Michigan State kept battling in the second half, and although Ohio State scored nine points in the four minutes, the Spartans cut the lead to 11 after a layup from junior forward Grace Vanslooten.
Ohio State’s lead shrunk to 10 after a scoring drought that lasted over three minutes, but McMahon and Cambridge combined for a trio of 3-point shots to lead their team on a 12-2 scoring run that lasted the final 2:05 of the third quarter.
Michigan State gave itself hope by opening the fourth quarter with a 15-2 scoring run over the first 5:44 of the fourth quarter. The Spartans’ run coincided with the Buckeyes’ only substantial scoring slump of the game. The Buckeyes failed to score a single point from 9:33 to 3:57. Eventually though McMahon made a layup to snap the Buckeyes’ scoring drought and 29 seconds later Cambridge made a layup to extend the lead to 85-74 with 3:28 to go.
The Buckeyes locked in defensively and only allowed four free throws the rest of the way to secure the 11-point win.
Petty finished the game as Ohio State’s second-leading scorer behind Cambridge with 23 points on a perfect 11-11 shooting night, she also led the team with six assists and 15 rebounds. McMahon didn’t reach the 20-point threshold, but she had an efficient scoring night with 17 points on 6-11 shooting, which included 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
Hallock was Michigan State’s leading score with 29 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-5 from 3-point range.
