Ohio State (26-7) suffered a season-ending defeat in Value City Arena in the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season on Sunday night. The Buckeyes, who trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter made a furious comeback and briefly regained the lead but ultimately Tennessee (24-9) came out on top 82-67.
As much as Ohio State is known for its own full-court pressure, it was Tennessee’s press that was more effective. The Volunteers forced 23 turnovers in the game and scored 37 points off of those turnovers. The Buckeyes meanwhile tallied just 15 points off turnovers.
Yeah, certainly they sped us up, and we didn’t handle it very well,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said of his team’s issues with turnovers. “I thought we were in the right spots, but really not making good decisions when we had to go to a little bit higher rate of speed.”
Coming into the game as the No. 2 ranked scoring offense in the country, Tennessee was held to just one field goal in the first 4:49 of the game. Ohio State meanwhile couldn’t have asked for a better offensive start. Five different Buckeyes scored in the first 5:11 of the first half, as the home team grabbed an early 13-5 lead.
A layup from freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge extended Ohio State’s lead to 16-5, but Tennessee got back in the game with a 12-2 scoring run over 3:05.
The Buckeyes ended the physical opening frame with three free throws to take a 21-17 lead heading into the second.
Graduate forward Ajae Petty gave the Buckeyes an offensive boost to start the second with four points to give her team a 25-20 lead. Tennessee’s defense started to cause the Buckeyes issues midway through the second quarter and after forcing three turnovers in a span of 1:39, the Volunteers went on a 12-1 scoring run to take a 32-26 lead.
A 3-point jumper by junior forward Cotie McMahon helped shrink her team’s deficit, but a pair of free throws by Spencer Samara gave Tennessee a 40-35 halftime lead.
The Buckeyes’ turnover issues only got worse in the third quarter. After a layup by Cambridge, Ohio State committed four turnovers, all of which led to Tennessee baskets. Ohio State’s struggles to keep possession of the ball helped Tennessee score 14 straight points and take a 54-37 lead.
With its season on the brink, Ohio State picked the perfect time to answer the Volunteers’ surge. Fueled by nine straight points from Cambridge, Ohio State went on a 14-0 run over 2:33 to trim Tennessee’s lead down to 54-53.
Then after Tennessee scored its first bucket in over three minutes, McMahon drained a three-point jumper to tie the game at 56.
McMahon was fouled on Ohio State’s next possession and gave her team its first lead in the second half after splitting a pair of free throws. Tennessee finally managed to swing the momentum back in its favor when Talaysia Cooper drained a triple. Cooper’s three-pointer was the catalyst of a 10-2 scoring run that lasted the final 2:48 of the third quarter which made the score 66-59 in favor of Tennessee entering the final frame.
Ohio State didn’t get the start it needed after a poor end to the third quarter. The Buckeyes made just one of their first six shots offensively and on the other end junior guard Ruby Whitehorn made a crucial three-pointer at the 7:16 mark to put the Volunteers up 71-61.
Senior guard Taylor Thierry snapped a nearly 4 minute scoring drought with a layup, but the Buckeyes missed their next 5 shots as Tennessee scored five straight to take a 76-63 lead with just 3:24 to go.
The Buckeyes cut the Tennessee lead to 11 with 2:53 to go, but that was as close as they got, as the Volunteers scored the final four points to with by 15.
“I think as much as anything, we were mentally tired,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said when asked if his team ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. “I thought physically, we were fine. But mentally, we were a little worn out and a little bit frustrated. I think like we went on a run to get the game tied, and then I just think like the mental fatigue when we turned it over a couple times, we didn’t handle that real well mentally as much as anything.”
Cambridge was Ohio State’s leading scorer she finished the game with 19 points, but she wasn’t very efficient and only made 7-of-20 field goals and had a game-high 8 turnovers.
McMahon was Ohio State’s best player in the loss, she scored 17 points on 5-of 9 shooting including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Cambridge tied Thierry for a team-high 3 assists. Thierry also tied Petty for a team-high of 6 rebounds.
Cooper was the Volunteers’ leading scorer, she finished the game with 19 points while shooting 7-of-17 from the field.
