In its last game of the regular season, No. 12 Ohio State (24-5, 13-5 Big Ten) suffered its fourth straight road loss 93-90 in overtime against No. 19 Maryland (23-6, 13-5 Big Ten).
The Buckeyes, who lost the game after a last-second 3-pointer by Te-Biasu in overtime, were plagued by foul trouble and turnovers throughout. The Buckeyes committed 19 turnovers in the loss and saw freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge and junior forward Cotie McMahon both fouled out of the game before its conclusion.
It wasn’t the start the Buckeyes were looking for defensively. Head coach Kevin McGuff’s group allowed Maryland to collect four offensive rebounds to score 14 points in the game’s first 4:05. In her last regular season game as a Buckeye, senior guard Taylor Thierry helped Ohio State stay only two points behind Maryland with a pair of 3-point jump-shots early in the first quarter.
The Buckeyes didn’t make a field goal in the final 5:25 of the first quarter, and Maryland took advantage with a 10-5 scoring run over the same span to build a 24-17 lead heading into the second quarter.
After a scoreless first quarter, graduate forward Ajae Petty broke the Buckeyes out of their shooting slump with four points in the first 1:31 of the second quarter. Maryland guard Sarah Te-Biasu responded with a 3-point jumper, but Ohio State took its first lead of the game with a 13-3 scoring run over 4:15.
Ohio State ended the half on a field goal drought of over 3 minutes, but after forcing the Terrapins into a turnover in the last 10 seconds of the half, the Buckeyes managed to take a 38-37 lead into halftime.
Maryland stormed back in front in the third quarter with a 7-3 spurt, and after a pair of free throws from Ohio State Te-Biasu hit her second 3-point shot of the game to give the Terrapins a 49-45 lead.
Although they struggled throughout much of the frame, the Buckeyes ended the third quarter on a high note when junior guard Kennedy Cambridge denied the Terrapins of a fast break opportunity with a block on Te-Biasu with 47 seconds to go. Junior guard Chance Gray came up with the rebound and seven seconds after Cambridge’s block, she drained a 3-point jumper to cut Maryland’s lead to 1.
Jaloni Cambridge put the Buckeyes back on top with a contested layup early in the fourth quarter, but Maryland responded with five straight points to lead 63-59.
Trailing by four with 7:26 to go, the Buckeyes were delivered a blow when Jaloni Cambridge committed an offensive foul to foul out of the game and give the Terrapins the ball back.
Ohio State struggled on both ends of the floor in the immediate aftermath of Cambridge’s disqualification and gave up five straight points to trail by 9 with 6:50 to go.
The Buckeyes didn’t give in after the Terrapnis’ spurt and instead battled back with six straight points of their own. After a timeout, Maryland quickly broke the Buckeyes’ press for an easy layup, but graduate guard Madison Greene made a key 3-point shot 20 seconds later to make it a 2-point game. Kennedy Cambridge got a steal on Maryland’s ensuing in-bounds attempt and Thierry tied the game at 72 with a layup with 2:58 to go.
Maryland put an end to the Buckeyes’ run with a pair of free throws from Te-Biasu and after a layup from Petty on the next possession, the Terrapins broke the press to find another layup.
McMahon gave the Buckeyes an answer with a layup, by Sellers came down the other end to make a contested mid-range jumper with less than a minute to go. Still trailing by two, the Buckeyes again called on McMahon, and again she delivered with a contested layup to tie the game at 78 with less than 30 seconds left.
Maryland had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Kennedy Cambridge stole the ball from Sellers right before the buzzer sounded to send the game to overtime.
The Buckeyes got off to an ideal start in overtime when Greene made a layup on the Buckeyes’ first possession, and after coming up with a stop, Thierry made an and-1 layup to put her team up five.
Te-Biasu got the Terrapins on the board in overtime with a mid-range jumper right before the shot clock expired and after a miss from McMahon, Sellers made a layup to cut Ohio State’s lead to one with 2:51 to go. McMahon redeemed herself with four points in a span of less than 30 seconds to put the Buckeyes up 87-84 with 2:03 to go. Ohio State failed to come up with a defensive rebound after an initial miss from Maryland, and junior guard Kaylene Smikle tied the game at 87 with a 3-point jumper with 1:25 remaining.
Kennedy Cambridge turned the ball over on the Buckeyes’ next possession, but Smikle missed a jump shot that would’ve put the Terrapins ahead.
McMahon was fouled with only 32 seconds left in overtime and made one of two free throws to put the Buckeyes ahead 88-87.
Te-Biasu made a layup seven seconds later to give Maryland an 89-88 lead. After a timeout from McGuff, Cambridge had a mid-range jumper blocked by Smikle. It appeared as though Cambridge got the offensive rebound and scored a late go-ahead basket, but the officials deemed the block to be a jump ball, wiping out Cambridge’s basket and giving the Terrpains the ball with a one-point lead.
McMahon fouled with 14 seconds left to put graduate forward Allie Kubek on the line. Kubek made one of two free throws to put Maryland ahead by two with 14 seconds remaining. Greene fell down on the Buckeyes’ next possession but somehow kept her dribble alive and ultimately made a game-tying layup with 7 seconds left.
Just as the two teams seemed to be headed toward a second overtime, Te-Biause drained a 3-point shot with 1 second left to put Maryland up 93-90. Kennedy Cambridge had one chance to send the game to double overtime from half-court, but her shot was well short.
The Buckeyes were led by Thierry in the loss, who scored 21 points while shooting 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
McMahon wasn’t far behind Thierry’s lead, she had 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting before fouling out in the last minute of overtime.
Petty also got to double-figures with 12 points and also led the Buckeyes with 10 rebounds and three assists.
Smikle was the Terrapins’ leading scorer with 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting. Sellers also had a huge game for Maryland with 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting, she also led the team with 8 assists.
