Ohio State (20-1, 9-1 Big Ten) didn’t have its best offensive outing, but head coach Kevin McGuff’s bunch made the plays they needed in crunch time to pick up the 66-56 win over Washington (13-9, 4-6 Big Ten).
The Buckeyes came out of a week-long break in between games rusty against the Huskies. In the first 2:09 of the game, Ohio State committed two turnovers and gave up three layups to trail 7-0.
Junior forward Cotie McMahon broke the Buckeyes’ game-opening scoring drought with a layup at the 7:38 mark.
The Huskies continued to find holes in the Buckeyes’ full-court press and as a team they made four more layups before the end of the first quarter.
The Buckeyes forced a pair of turnovers in the last two minutes of the opening frame, which allowed them to score the last four points of the quarter and trim Washington’s lead to 15-14.
After Washington scored on back-to-back possessions to start the second quarter, Ohio State scored six straight points to take a 22-19 lead.
The Huskies seemed to settle down with a 5-0 spurt, but the Buckeyes took full control of the game with a 14-2 scoring run over the last 5:54 of the first half.
The Buckeyes didn’t allow a field goal during their 14-2 surge, which was capped by a buzzer-beating mid-range jumper from freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge that extended the halftime lead to 36-26.
The Huskies came out of halftime with the sort of energy one would expect from a team trailing by ten. Washington made two triples in the first 1:47 as part of a third-quarter opening 8-2 soring run.
Washington’s momentum was short-lived, Ohio State scored six straight points to negate the Huskies’ early second half run and take a 46-36 lead.
A McMahon jumpshot gave the Buckeyes a 50-38 lead at the 2:22 mark. The 12 point advantage was the Buckeyes’ largest lead of the game to that point, but the Huskies scored the last seven points of the quarter and only trailed 50-45 heading into the final ten minutes.
Cambridge committed a turnover on the Buckeyes’ first possession offensively, and on the other end the Huskies knocked down a triple, as Ohio State’s lead shrunk to two points.
The Buckeyes handled the pressure well. After graduate forward Ajae Petty made a layup, Cambridge had back-to-back steal and scores to increase the lead to 56-48.
The away team refused to go away though. Washington made two triples in a span of two minutes, the latter cut Ohio State’s lead to five with 4:10 to go.
Ohio State turned to McMahon in the closing minutes, and she made back-to-back two-point baskets to lead her team on a 6-0 spurt. Leading 65-54 with 2:25 to go, Ohio State dug in defensively and only conceded one more field goal the rest of the gam to secure the 10-point win.
McMahon was Ohio State’s leading scorer with 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting, she also added on five rebounds.
Freshman center Elsa Lemmilä came off the bench to lead the team with seven rebounds, while senior guard Taylor Thierry dished out a team-high three assists.
Junior guard Hannah Stines led the way for Washington. She scored 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
