OSU women have no answers for Iowa in Big Ten tourney final
Ohio State was completely helpless.
A day after pulling off the largest comeback in Big Ten Tournament history, erasing a 24-point deficit against Indiana to advance to the championship game, the Buckeyes had no answer for Iowa. The game was close for five minutes; then Iowa went on a roll, and there was nothing OSU could do about it.
The Buckeyes trailed by 17 points after the first quarter, by 37 at halftime, by 29 after the third quarter and by 33 when the final buzzer rang on the 105-72 loss at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
In the first 90 seconds of the game, Iowa turned the ball over three times, and Ohio State missed all three shots it created off those turnovers. Neither team was particularly efficient in the first five minutes, and the Buckeyes even took two leads — 4-3 at the 7:36 mark and 7-6 at the 6:03 mark — before the downward spiral began.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark put her team back in the lead with a layup at 5:45 left in the first quarter, and it all fell apart for Ohio State from there. The Hawkeyes went on a 16-0 run over the next four minutes, and their run was only briefly interrupted by a layup from sophomore guard/forward Taylor Thierry. The layup proved to be the only basket the Buckeyes made for the rest of the quarter, as Iowa rolled to a 26-9 lead through 10 minutes.
Somehow, some way, the second quarter was even more dominant for the Hawkeyes. Clark scored 12 points in the frame and dished out six assists, and forward Monika Czinano added 11 points. Ohio State made just five baskets, shooting 27.8% from the floor, while Iowa scored at will, both around the rim and from 3-point range.
For the majority of the first half, Clark single-handedly outperformed the Buckeyes. Through the first 20 minutes, she had 23 points and nine assists, and Ohio State had 24 points and seven assists. Clark finished with 30 points, 17 assists and 10 rebounds.
The Buckeyes did shoot the ball better in the third quarter, as both Taylor Mikesell and Cotie McMahon found their footing to contribute 11 and 10 points apiece, but it was far too late. Despite shooting 52.9% from the floor and making four threes on seven attempts, the closest Ohio State came in the third quarter was a 27-point deficit.