Ohio State Opens Daytona Beach Classic With 70-47 Win Over Old Dominion

Behind a dominant defensive effort, and fifth-year forward Ajae Petty’s best game as a Buckeye, Ohio State picked up a 70-47 Thanksgiving Day win over Old Dominion to open the Daytona Beach Classic.

It wasn’t necessarily a great shooting start to the Daytona Beach Classic for the Buckeyes, who made just 3 of their first 10 shots. However, Ohio State’s high-pressure defense was in full force and created 10 turnovers in the game’s first 7 minutes, allowing the team to take a 7-4 lead with three minutes to go in the first quarter.

Ohio State added to its lead after backup point guard Madison Greene made one of two free throws, but the Buckeyes couldn’t beat the shot clock on their next possession. Ohio State scored points off of an Old Dominion turnover when senior guard Taylor Thierry came up with a steal and found redshirt sophomore guard Kennedy Cambridge for a layup as the team took a 10-4 lead.

Another shot clock turnover by Ohio State kept the lead at a relatively close 10-4 margin to end the first quarter.

Petty got the Buckeyes out of a bit of a funk to start the second quarter, and she scored four straight layups to help give the team an 18-10 lead with 6:31 to go.

Freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge gave the Buckeyes their first 10-point lead of the game with an old-school three-point play.  Junior guard Chance Gray followed her lead the next play with an and-1 layup of her own, although she couldn’t connect on the free throw, as the Buckeyes grabbed a 23-10 lead with 4:53 to go in the first half.

Old Dominion broke a 2:13 scoring drought with a layup from junior center Mikayla Brown, but the Buckeyes responded with 9 straight points over the next 4:05 to take a 32-12 lead with 33 seconds to go in the half. Gray ended the half with a pair of free throws as Ohio State held a 34-14 lead at the midway point. Ohio State outscored Old Dominion 18-4 over the last 6:51 of the first half.

Up 20 going into the second half, the Buckeyes didn’t quit playing high-level defense.
Ohio State allowed no points over the first three minutes, and on the offensive end scored four points on a layup from Petty and free throws from Thierry.

The Monarchs finally got their offense going and cut the Buckeye lead to 44-25 with an 11-6 scoring run.

Ohio State’s offensive issues continued to end the quarter, as it only managed six points in the last 4:43, but the team still carried a 50-32 lead into the final period.

The Monarchs kept fighting through much of the fourth quarter, but the Buckeyes finally put them away with a 7-0 scoring run to take a 64-41 lead with 3:56 to go in the game.

Ohio State’s bench players wrapped up the 70-47 win with a solid stretch in the game’s last four minutes. Petty was the Buckeyes’ leading scorer in the game with 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting and a team-high 11 rebounds, while Jaloni Cambridge made 6-of-14 shots to finish the game with 15 points and a team-high six assists.

The Buckeyes had a decent shooting performance and made 27-of-62 field goal attempts, good enough for a 43.5 field goal percentage but didn’t make a single 3-point field goal the entire game. Ohio State finished the game 0-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Ohio State’s defense had another solid performance forcing Old Dominion into 28 turnovers, and an 18-of-53 shooting performance for a field goal percentage of 34.0.

The Monarchs were led by junior guard Simaru Fields and senior forward Brenda Fontana, who scored 11 points each.

The Buckeyes will face off against Utah State in their next game of the Daytona Beach Classic on Friday at 3:30 p.m.